


hold on

by uhjpg



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Bruce isn't an asshole, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, M/M, POV Changes, and he sure as hell didn't sign up for any of this either and he won't let you forget it !!, but its not what you think, cuz im a sLUt for that trope, damian is low key the only competent character, dick cant cook for shit rip, dick is so stressed anjhscsch someone help him, he's valid but missing, jason's still low key an asshole but hes valid, kinda mainly focuses on the batbros tbh, nothing drastic happened it was just rich white men being dumb until it was too late lmao, probably wont be h u g e on the romance cuz im not that great at writing it but its there lmao, roy is based off the yj version cuz i love him there, sorta - Freeform, the batbros are all close in age, the city-states are the w o r s t, theres an alien invasion ???, tim is too tired for this, tim knows everything...mainly through lowkey eavesdropping but whatcha gonna do lmao, tim/kon if you squint, wally and the others come in eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2019-09-28 19:39:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17189147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uhjpg/pseuds/uhjpg
Summary: With five habitable cities left it's a known fact that if yours gets destroyed, you'll be left at the mercy of the outside world. Four of the cities took this seriously. The last didn't, and everyone in it was killed. Sure, some got out and managed to survive, but with a lingering alien invasion, four divided city-states that refuse to help anyone except their own citizens, and a missing father, is survival really worth all the trouble?***Dick sighs as he watches his siblings. "You'd think being the sole survivors of our city-state would make us at least Act a little more intelligent." Damian stands next to him, arms crossed. "Wishful thinking does no one good, Richard."





	1. past mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> hhhhh i haven't written in a while so if its kinda rusty in the beginning i'm sorry ://

Jason

 

**December 15th, 4044**

 

There was something almost peaceful about the entire situation. The never ending clamor that resulted from the city's continuous traffic seemed to have frozen, leaving an almost deafening silence instead. All the artificial lights were out, leaving only the waning moon to light the ruins. The stars were slowly beginning to show themselves, finally resurfacing after years of light pollution. The soft patter of the rain drummed all around him, leaving him drenched to the bone. He could see his breath, white and wispy, climbing higher and higher until it was out of reach. And then there was a sort of acceptance. The kind that only settles in after you've fought and fought and done everything you could possibly think and still fail. Yes, the scene that stood before him was almost peaceful. But not entirely.

 

The closer you get to the city, the worse it looks. Buildings, falling apart, lay scattered throughout it. It is too quiet there. Not even the animals will enter it.

 

The city had been dying for years, so long that the people living in it had grown desensitized to the frays littering the city that were growing into gaping cracks. The false sense of security was what really lead to their downfall. “It's been dying for so long, but we're still here” they'd say when anyone from the outside tried to warn them. “Give it a hundred more years and we'll _still_ be here” they'd laugh. But, like a thief in the night, the city gave. Thousands of buildings collapsing on each other, falling down to the earth below, blowing out the power sources in the city. It was dark, and no one was aware of what was happening. Most of them died swift deaths. The unlucky ones remained trapped under debris, slowly dying of hunger and dehydration. The city died, slowly and then all at once, taking out the area surrounding it with it.

 

He was old enough to have some memories of the city, before his father took him and his siblings out of it with such a sense of desperation rolling off of him that none of them even tried to ask him why they were leaving in the middle of the night and traveling into the forest. Just as they had arrived at the edge of the forest, the city began to crumble. That was eight years ago. He had been thirteen then.

 

“You know, when I asked you to take the first watch for tonight, I didn’t mean watch Gotham’s ruins” an amused voice whispers next to him, nearly jolting him out of his skin.

 

He glances over to his older brother and relaxes. Only Dick could ever sneak up on him like that, much to his annoyance. “Well, if you asking me to watch out for you guys means you watching _me,_ then apparently neither of us actually knows what ‘keeping watch’ actually means” he grins, leaning against a rotting log, “besides, shouldn’t you be with Timmers and the demon spawn?”

 

Dick rolls his eyes. “They’ll be fine for a couple more minutes. I just wanted to check up on you. You know, with tomorrow being the day and all.”

 

“Much appreciated, but very unnecessary, Dickie bird. Go get some sleep before I decide to make you take over and I steal your beauty sleep.”

 

Dick hesitates. “Jason-”

 

“I said _don’t worry about it_ , Dick. It happened a while ago. Almost nine years ago. Just forget it.” With that he turns around and makes his way down the overgrown trail, leaving his overly concerned brother behind alone with his thoughts.

 

~~~

“Todd!” His youngest brother's voice rings from somewhere to the right of him.

 

He groans, and rolls over, wrapping his arms around his head. “Go away.”

 

“Richard told me to tell you that if you don't get your sorry ass off the ground I get to eat your portion of breakfast.” Damian's very pretentious voice is much closer now and Jason has to resist the urge to sweep his legs out from under him. Out of all his siblings, Damian is the one that would physically retaliate without holding back. And he was bruised enough from last night as it was. The first few hours of the night were always the worst, because that was most of the other peoples’ favorite time to go out and attempt to steal supplies from others.

 

“Todd. I _will_ eat all of your food if you do not get up right now.”

 

“Because a breakfast of mush and some berries is _so_ satisfying.” He mutters, still not getting up.

 

“Tt.” The little bastard kicks his side.

 

He can't see it, but he knows Damian is raising an eyebrow at him while scowling. His arms were probably crossed too.

 

“You should know the only reason I have not dragged you out of your bed is because Richard requested me to be ‘gentle’ because of the incident you had with Bane you had last night.”

 

Jason slowly sits up, rubbing at where his brother had kicked him. “You call kicking me in my bruised ribs ‘gentle’?” He complains.

 

“Very.” Came the deadpan response.

 

“Well thanks, it's very appreciated.” He snaps sarcastically, grabbing his coat and throwing it over his shoulders, making his way out of the small hut they shared.

 

“Todd.”

 

He stops, waiting for him to give him yet another death threat.

 

“I assume you know what day it is, correct?”

 

Jason sighs. “Yeah.”

 

“Then, while I myself am not good at offering words of encouragement, I suggest that you speak to Richard if you need anything. Or feel free to ask me to spar if that is what you need. I do not know what Drake could offer in this situation, but if you want to sit next to him while he stares off into the distance and dissociates because of lack of sleep, be my guest.” He ducks out of the door, turns and looks Jason dead in the eyes and tells him “If you do not hurry I _will_ take your breakfast with no remorse” and then walks away.

 

Wrapping his coat around his body, he ducks underneath the opening and walks out, the cold air biting at his nose.

 

“Good morning!” Dick calls cheerily from where he was dishing out something that vaguely looked edible.

 

Timbers took one look at it and wrinkles his nose. “I like it better when Jason's the one doing the cooking.”

 

If Dick heard, he doesn't acknowledge it. Years of people insulting your cooking will do that to you.

 

Jason plops down in between Tim and Damian, mainly in an attempt to spare everyone from having to endure another one of their arguments, and takes the offered meal with a grateful facial expression that took years to master. As soon as Dick turns around the facade drops and he glares at the food. Dick wasn't built for the kitchen, and it showed every time it was his turn to cook. He picks up his spoon and pokes at what's supposedly oatmeal. Between Dick's inability to cook, the lack of supplies, and a ban on eating meat because Damian insisted early on that they could not kill animals, their meals were often unsatisfying.

 

But, unsatisfying is better than starving to death he tells himself sternly as he picks up the spoon and forces the too thick oatmeal down his throat without chewing to avoid tasting it. Through the corner of his eye, he watches Dick take a tentative bite of the food, before watching his eyes grow four sizes larger than usual and then set down his spoon. Based on the slight eyebrow raise from Damian, he saw it too.

 

After thirty minutes of watching Dick pretend that he didn't see see Timbolina throwing the oatmeal behind him or Damian sneaking his own portion into Tim's bowl, Jason finally finishes his own. He was the only one who managed to eat it, but he was starving from the amount of effort that he had put in ensuring that Bane didn't take any of their supplies. Supplies were hard to come by anyways, as the other four cities didn't allow anyone who wasn't a citizen to enter or acquire aid from them. Most of their supplies came from the landfills. And no one was going to take his fucking garbage, thank you very much.

 

Dick finally gave up pretending that he liked his food and set down his bowl. “Okay. All in favor of Jason cooking lunch?”

 

Everyone's hands shot up so fast that Jason felt a bit offended on behalf of Dick, but Dick just grinned and leaned back against the trunk of an old pine that sat behind him. “Good. I was worried I'd have to make my famous beat soup.”

 

He knows that Damian liked to pretend he had no emotions but he could _swear_ he saw tears welling up in his eyes at the mention of the soup. And he didn't blame him.

 

“Oh God _anything_ but that. It's a sorry excuse for soup. Hell, it shouldn't even be considered food.”

 

Dick shrugs. “I'm sorry that I spent most of my life worrying about having fabulous hair so that I didn't make time to learn how to cook. Truly a tragic scheduling conflict.”

 

Damian rolls his eyes. “This is why you had the hardest time adjusting when Gotham collapsed and we lost all ‘modern comforts’.”

 

Jason watched Dick gape. “Just because _some_ of us care about the way we look doesn't mean that we're useless. Or did you forget _I_ was the only one who could beat Bruce when we spared?”

 

“Tt. Still does not get rid of the fact that you cannot cook.”

 

“Can _you?”_

 

“Better than you.” Shrugs Damian.

 

He watched Dick consider that for a moment. “You're right. But, speaking of Gotham,” he turns to Jason and gives him a pointed look.

 

Jason rolls his eyes. “Just cuz I died for a good few hours doesn't mean that I'm the only one that went through something that day. We _all_ lost our home that day.”

 

“Yeah, but every single day other than today, you won't let us forget that you died.” Mutters Tim.

 

“That is an absolute lie and I can't believe that you would slander me in such a way-”

 

“Just a week ago Richard asked you to go to the landfill to try to see if some wasteful prick threw out medical supplies and you responded with ‘you're really asking the dead guy? When Tim, who is literal trash and would fit right in, is right there?’”

 

“Fair point. But that still doesn't mean that you have to walk on eggshells around me every single year.”

 

“But you _died._ ”

 

“I'm well aware, trust me.”

 

***

**December 15th, 4036**

 

 _“Jason._ Jason! _” He groggily opens his eyes and waits for his bleary eyes slowly focus on Bruce._

 

_“Bruce? What time is it?” He asks, rubbing his eyes._

 

_Bruce doesn't answer. He tosses him a change of clothes._

 

 _“Change, and then go to the living room with Dick. I'm getting Tim and Damian. Do_ not _move from there.”_

 

_Something in his tone makes Jason do exactly what he says without question, and after pulling on his clothes and slipping on a pair of boots, he wanders to the living room where Dick is impatiently waiting for him._

 

_“Finally!” He scolds. “Took you long enough.”_

 

_Dick is also dressed, but he also has a heavy coat, gloves, a hat, and a scarf on. He tosses Jason the same articles of clothing._

 

_“Put those on fast! We have to be ready for Bruce.”_

 

 _“But_ what _are we doing?”_

 

 _The look on Dick's face darkens, and Jason had the feeling that he knew a lot more than the rest of the siblings did. He frowns. Bruce_ always _told Dick things that he didn't tell the rest of them. He thinks Bruce should at least tell him too. He_ was _13 after all, only two years younger than Dick._

 

_“Gotham is dying.”_

 

_“What?” Jason laughs. “Everyone's been saying that for the past 50 years. Nothing's happened yet. Why would it happen now?”_

 

 _Dick doesn't say anything, but adjusts his grip on the backpack he was holding, and shoves a nearly identical bag towards Jason, who puts it on without complaining. Bruce had clearly been planning this for a while, and if Bruce thought something was wrong, then he concluded that_ something _had to be off._

 

_Bruce arrives with The Replacement and Damian, and after helping them to put on their coats, hats, scarves, and gloves on and giving them their backpacks, he dresses himself in his own coat and grabs a much bigger backpack and leads them outside._

 

 _Jason looks around in confusion. It was dark and peaceful. Everything seemed fine, but he remembers what Bruce told him about the eye of the storm, so he doesn't try to argue. He trusted in Bruce. Bruce saved their lives. In a world where officials euthanized orphans if they weren't adopted in a set amount of time because they took up resources, Bruce had adopted all of them just_ days _before they'd stop existing. Bruce didn't have much money, and the home they lived in was small, but they were able to have food and go to school, which is more than he ever thought he'd have._

 

_Obediently, the four of them trail behind Bruce, and when the younger two, ages 10 and 11, began to lag, Bruce picks up Damian and Dick puts Timbers on his back. Jason wrinkles his nose. Dick thought because he was 15 he was an adult. He bet he wouldn't be able to carry Tim for more than a couple minutes._

 

_Surprisingly, Dick carries Tim the entire time without a single complaint. Everything was going fine until they just passed through the gate. Everything erupted and debris flew through the air._

 

 _“_ Run! _” Bruce told them, making sure they were all in front of him. Debris flew towards Tim, who Dick had put down because he was unable to run with him on his back, and Bruce lunged towards him and was able to shield him from it. He was always stronger and faster than a normal 23 year old should be. But because he had moved from behind Jason, a piece of shrapnel stabbed him in the back._

 

_He couldn't even scream. He just froze and collapsed, his last thought being “I guess orphans really do die before they reach adulthood”, the last thing he heard was Dick screaming and Bruce yelling his name._

_~~~_

_When he wakes up, he can't sit up. His entire torso is wrapped in gauze and he can't really feel anything. He tries to call out for help, but his voice dies in his throat._

 

_I'm going to die alone, he thinks, tears beginning to well up in the corners of his eyes._

 

_Just then, Bruce rushes in and behind him, his younger brothers._

 

_“You're not dead!” They cheer._

 

_Bruce doesn't cheer. Instead he gently touches Jason's face and brushes the hair out of his eyes._

 

_“You were dead for nearly two hours.”_

 

_Jason laughs. Bruce was never that great with humor, but this was next level._

 

_“Jason. I'm serious.”_

 

_Dick walks in, holding water. “You're alive again ! Oh thank God! I missed you so much!” He runs over and embraces him._

 

_Jason flinches. “Uh...Dick-”_

 

_“Oh my God i'm sorry!” Dick instantly lets go of him, grinning sheepishly._

 

_“Don't worry about it.” He grins. “Yanno what this means?”_

 

_Dick looks at him strangely. “No?”_

 

_“I'm tougher than you.”_

 

 _“It does_ not! _”_

 

 _“Have_ you _ever died and come back to life?”_

 

_“No…”_

 

_“Exactly.”_

 

_Dick shakes his head. “But do you know what else this means?”_

 

_“What?”_

 

 _“You're stuck with us_ again _, and this time, we're gonna make sure you're_ always _okay.”_

 

_Jason grins. “Good luck with that, Dickie bird.”_

 

***

**December 15th, 4044**

 

Tim awkwardly clears his throat and snaps his fingers in front of Jason and Dick. “You done reminiscing?”

 

Jason blinks a few times, but just grins. “Yeah, I'm good. We're all good.”

 

“Speak for yourself,” snorts Damian.

 

“Dami! What's _that_ supposed to mean?”

 

“That it has been exactly _three years_ and we _still_ haven't found Father. He deserves to be rescued, after everything he's done for us, and we have done absolutely nothing.”

 

“Dami...we've tried our best “ sighs Dick, raking his fingers through his hair.

 

“But is Father here?”

 

Another sigh. “No.”

 

“We _have_ to find him. He's counting on us.” Insists Damian, scooting forward on his seat.

 

“You're right, Damian. He spent our entire lives looking out for us. It's our turn to look out from him.”

 

Dick looks at Jason uneasily. “You know what that means, right?”

 

“Yeah,” He looks at his brothers. “We all do.”


	2. snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry if there are any mistakes, i've tried to proof read it but im slightly dyslexic so i probably missed some stuff by accident lol

Dick

 

**December 16th, 4044**

 

It was going to snow soon. 

 

When he was small child, still living in the circus, snow was a sign of joy and hope to him. The way the small crystals covered everything, coating everything in a thick blanket of snow. It made everything seem magical. After the accident that orphaned him, the snow was his only constant. Everything else always changed but the snow would always come, bringing a sense of normality to his life, even if it was only for a few fleeting moments. 

 

He closes his eyes, and lets the icy wind caress his face, inhaling deeply. After Gotham collapsed when he was about fifteen, snow had suddenly become a much larger problem than he had ever thought. Yes, the trailer he lived in as a child wasn't exactly insulated, the orphanage was run down with gaping holes in the walls and roof, and Bruce's home small, but they had access to supplies and other necessities. They could go out and buy warm clothes and food. They could barter with the ladies in the marketplace for some of those thick wool blankets, or maybe a pair of gloves. If someone got sick, a nurse would come.

 

Out here, however, they were on their own against the elements. While they had built a decent shelter, their resources were severely depleted. All their clothes were either stolen or taken out of the landfills that sat at the edge of the cities. Their blankets were worn and old. The last of their medical supplies had been used on Jason after Bane had attacked in an attempt to take what was left of their food supply.

 

He exhales and watches his breath dance upwards until it disappears from view. The only other people who survived Gotham's collapse were the criminals who had been evicted from the city years earlier. The irony was overwhelming, and he allows a small smile to twist onto his face.

 

They had split off into several groups, since most couldn't support more than five people, and all of the groups attempted to steal from one another. Their favorite target was him and his brothers, because they weren't criminals. Criminals all had a code of conduct when interacting with each other, so if they could steal from someone else, they would. Hopefully the snow would slow them down for at least a little bit. Wandering around through the ice and snow isn't something anyone wants to do, especially when the slightest misstep could result in a broken neck.

 

“It's gonna snow soon.”

 

Dick looks back at where Tim is standing hesitantly, a couple of feet away, half leaning on a rotting stump that had been there since he and his brothers had helped Bruce cut it down to build a solid shelter.

 

He sighs and nods. “You feel it too?”

 

Tim raises an eyebrow. “I just figured from how cloudy its been lately and the temperature drop. Not all of us are able to accurately predict weather off of a gut feeling.”

 

“That's my superpower.” He calls back, watching his brother's eyebrow climb even higher.

 

Tim makes his way over to where Dick is standing and looks out down at the valley underneath them. After a moment, he breaks the silence.

 

“You know, if it's gonna snow...there's going to be at least one more attack from one of the rogues.”

 

Dick lets out another sigh. He's been doing that a lot lately, more than he would like. “That's what I'm afraid of. We need to get Jay and Dami and get ready.”

 

“And hide our supplies.”

 

“That too.” 

 

“Who do you think it's gonna be this time?”

 

Dick considers this for a moment. “Bane just had an encounter with Jason only yesterday, and we all know that no one can really get out of a fight with Jay without at least a couple bruises, so the chances of it being him again are slim. His camp is also the furthest from ours, so if he's injured enough, making the trip here would be too much for him, and combined with the possibility of snow later on today, returning home would be too dangerous to risk it.”

 

“But what about his partner? Cobra?”

 

“If he knows what's good for him, he'll stay away. That snow is too dangerous for  _ anyone  _ to be trudging through.”

 

“Joker, Crane, and Riddler?”

 

“Last I heard they broke their little pact with the rest of the rogues and stole a portion of Bane and Cobra's supplies, which is why they tried to attack us yesterday. Unless they used up everything already, the only ones that will probably attack are Ivy, Selina, and Harley.”

 

Tim's mouth curves downwards into a frown. “I'd rather take the Joker one handed then them combined.”

 

“You and me both.”

 

The other criminals were formidable, but the three women were the most dangerous out of all of them. Between Ivy's ability to control the plants, Harley's hand to hand combat skills, and Selina's ability to get out of any situation, they were often the only ones who could ever get away with stealing from them.

 

“I'll go bury the last of the medicine?”

 

“We used it on Jason.”

 

“The food?”

 

“All we have can be picked from any tree. Ivy can literally  _ grow  _ them food. Hide it just in case but that shouldn't be our priority.”

 

“Okay, then what  _ should _ be our priority? If we don't have anything, what are we protecting?”

 

“Mostly Jason and Damian's egos.” He snorts and begins making his way back to their home, Tim walking in step with him.

 

“Doesn't it bother you that we literally don't have anything?”

 

“More than anything. We need to find a way to at least get some more bandages, Jason's need to be replaced.”

 

“I can go down to the landfill and the three of you can stay here in case of an attack.” Tim offers.

 

Dick shakes his head. “The buddy system rule makes no exceptions. If you're gonna go, you have to take one of us.”

 

“But two of you won't last between the three of them, especially when two of them have  _ superpowers.” _

 

“I don't think Harley has...actually you're right. I once saw her throw Bruce a good forty feet. No  _ normal  _ person could do that.”

 

“Exactly. You wouldn't stand a chance.” He deadpans.

 

“I could always beat them with my charm.” He grins lazily, stretching his arms above his head.

 

“Yeah. And I could take out Bane with a cup of hot water.”

 

“Don't hate cuz you don't have what I have, Timmy.”

 

“That implies you actually have something I want.”

 

“After all I've done for you? You're gonna just drag me through the dirt like I'm Jason?”

 

“Worse. Like you're Damian.”

 

“Ouch.”

 

“You good?” Jason's voice rings out from inside the small hut. “We can't have you breaking a nail and being out of commission for the next month again.”

 

Dick rolls his eyes. “It was my  _ hand  _ that broken, not my fingernail. And I  _ still  _ did more work than you.”

 

“Bullshit.”

 

“Todd, you once licked your own poisoned knife when you were bragging to us about how dangerous it was and almost became paralyzed and we used up a months worth of medicine in a week.”

 

“Once you die once, you stop caring about literally anything that can harm you.”

 

“What about last week when you saw that ant crawling up your leg? You screamed so loud Damian almost stabbed something ‘cuz he thought you were being attacked.” Tim calls back.

 

“Ants have their own special place in hell cuz of how they are and I will  _ not  _ be mocked for reacting accordingly.”

 

“Too late.”

 

Before Dick can either respond, or stop one of his siblings from saying something that would cause a physical fight, he feels something wrap around his legs and pull him backwards. He barely manages to yell “Ivy!” before a whip wraps around Tim and he flies backwards and Jason gets pummeled in the face by Harley. 

 

Damien daintily steps out of the way of the vines crawling towards him and nonchalantly slashes at the whip flying at him with the rusty, chipped sword Dick had found in the landfill and given him for his thirteenth birthday. It had been an amazing find, as weapons weren't thrown out often, and if they were, they were broken beyond repair. 

 

“Tt. You all really need to pay more attention to your surroundings,” he sniffs, “I won't always be here to get you out of your messes.” He ducks from a punch thrown by Harley.

 

Dick wiggles his way free and runs towards Damian, cutting Tim free from where he was hanging upside down in the process.

 

“I had it.”

 

“No you didn't!” Yells Jason as he flips to get out of the way of a spiked tendril flying towards him, only to get hit square in the chest by another, sending him flying past Damian.

 

“You were saying?” Calls back Tim, ducking to avoid a well aimed kick from Selina. 

 

Dick leaps from above, and kicks at Selina's head, but she sees him and ducks out of the way, catching his leg, but he flips back, throwing her into a tree.

 

“We don _ ' _ t  _ have  _ anything!” He yells irritability. It was going to snow soon. They had little to no food, no supplies, and no medicine. He didn't have the time for this attack. Which meant he could only do one thing. He stood still. Selina lunged at him, but froze inches from his face. 

 

“Why aren't you fighting?” Her eyes narrow.

 

Dick places his hands on his hips. “We don't have anything. We  _ do _ have absolutely nothing, so if you would like to get some of that, we'd be happy to offer you some!” He announces, a peppy grin sliding onto his face.

 

Selina eyes him warily. “Nothing?” 

 

Everyone else noticed their standoff and froze, circling around them. 

 

“Nada.”

 

“But it's going to snow soon. I'd thought you'd be more prepared.” She frowns, adjusting the claws on her hands.

 

“Yeah, well, our last landfill run wasn't exactly forthcoming.”

 

“You're lying.”

 

“He is not, and if you accuse my brother of lying again, I will stab your face.”

 

“ _ Damian. Not helping.”  _ He hisses through his teeth.

 

“Naw, actually, I believe ‘im!” Harley speaks up, smiling too brightly. “Little birdie over there is too blunt to lie or cover for others. They really  _ don't _ have anything. It's a shame, ya know. You were the only fun ones but now you're going to die.”

 

“I take it back, Dami, you can ‘not help’ as much as you like.”

 

“Don't encourage him,” Mutters Jason “you're not doing  _ anyone  _ a favor.”

 

Ivy looks up, disinterested. “We're a little disappointed, We thought you'd last at least a little bit longer without your daddy dearest here to make sure everything runs smoothly.” She picks at her nail, cleaning out dirt that had gathered there.

 

Dick throws Damian a warning glance, knowing all too well that he was ready to cut out Ivy's eyes for that. 

 

“How about we just each go home for tonight! It's gonna snow any second now so it's not gonna be safe for you all to travel back, and we're literally running on fumes right now supplies wise, heh that rhymed-,” Damian glares at him, “and we can continue this later when it's  _ not  _ about to snow and transform the landscape into an ice skating rink with a million things that can impale you and we all actually have supplies to be stolen.”

 

Selina stares at him for a few solid seconds before withdrawing, walking towards her other group members, still facing Dick. “We'll be back, so make sure you actually have something next time so we don't have to put in extra work for nothing.” She calls at him, smiling.

 

“Will do, ma'am!” He calls back.

 

Jason snorts. “Ma'am?” 

 

“I dunno, it's the first thing I thought of. As long as she doesn't get offended by it we're fine.”

 

“And Grayson!” Selina yells, now further away.

 

“Looks like she  _ was  _ offended by it.” Mutters Tim.

 

“Make sure you and your brothers don't die.”

 

He salutes her, grinning, and turns back to Tim. “What did you say about my charm not working?”

 

“I'm beginning to think that  _ that's  _ your superpower, not predicting the weather.”

 

They walk back to their site, and sit down as Jason starts a fire. “You know,” he says quietly, “They're right. We  _ need  _ to get more supplies, and fast.”

 

“I know. And because of that, I'm taking one of you with me tomorrow to try to sneak into Starling City and get decent supplies.”

 

Damian looks up, excitement flashing across his face. “I'm going.” He looks around, daring them to object.

 

“Okay, then it's settled. Damian, I better not end up in a choke hold when I wake you.”

 

“I would  _ never.” _

 

Before Dick can respond, something wet hits his cheek and he looks up.

 

Little snowflakes were slowly beginning to fall from the sky, making their way towards earth, and despite all the hassle that snow now caused, it brought him a sense of peace. All would be quiet tonight.

 

Tomorrow, however, that would be a different story altogether.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading & happy new year :)


	3. star city

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not even gonna lie... I just forgot to write this chapter and so I wrote the entire thing today oof.
> 
> also if it's not perfectly proofread I'm sorry rip

Damian

 

**December 17th, 4044**

 

 

The city was bright. Despite the fact that it was a little past four in the morning, bright artificial lights pierced through the dark, illuminating everything. It was very irritating  _ and  _ a waste of precious resources. No one was awake at this time, save for some guards, who were equipped with their own lights, so the fact that they would even consider using these lights was diabolical. And it made it far more difficult to use the dark to sneak in when there was no dark. 

 

“Do these morons not know how much energy they're wasting?” He mutters to Richard, who was adjusting the makeshift grappling hook that they would use to get over the towering wall.

 

“I honestly don't think they care. Remember how it was in Gotham? Everyone was struggling to survive except the people in charge, who spent all the money on things we didn't necessarily need. It's the same here, except maybe not as bad.”

 

“Tt. You'd think they'd learn their lesson.” He sniffs and busies himself with securing the rope.

 

“You'd think they'd learn since the major depletion of resources is the reason we're in such a mess in the first place, but as long as people with money are in power they won't care cuz they can afford the increased prices of things.”

 

“Imbeciles.”

 

Normally Richard would chastise him for blatantly slandering people he had never met, but he looked like he agreed with his statement.

 

He'd take his victories where he could, he decided. They haven't had many lately. 

 

“Okay. I'll go first. Once you get the signal, follow me. If you don't get it, I was probably caught and shot.” Grins Richard.

 

“If you get shot, you truly are as incompetent as Todd believes you to be.”

 

Richard ruffles his hair and vaults himself up and over the wall.

 

Damian watches him with feigned disinterest. Richard had a very unique affinity with acrobatics that he himself could never master, which irked him to no end. Being the youngest, he often felt the need to prove himself, and to him, that translated into being the best at everything. Of course, his three older brothers just  _ had  _ to be talented at what Father had taught them, so surpassing them was not an easy task. He had eventually been able to come to terms that he could not beat them at everything and they could not beat him at everything either. Besides, if the youngest surpassed them at everything, it may not resonate well with them either, he supposes. 

 

Waiting as patiently as he could, he prepares to make the climb himself. He may not have Richard's grace, but he  _ was  _ able to scale vertical structures with a speed that could make Drake run for his money. 

 

A few more minutes, a couple of seconds before Damian decided that Richard had actually been caught and would have to brave the wall to rescue his brother, he picks up a quiet but distinct bird call.

 

A trill of excitement runs down his spine and he quickly climbs up and over the wall, and lands quietly next to Richard.

 

He grins. “We should do this more often.”

 

“Let's wait until we actually get on with it before we decide we like breaking in.”

 

“What?” Asks Damian slyly. “You don't like breaking the rules every so often?”

 

“Please,” scoffs Richard. “Do I look like a goody two shoes to you?”

 

“Yes, actually.”

 

“More than Tim?” He actually looked very concerned at the possibility. 

 

“I believe it's your smile.” Damian shrugs and sits down on the grass beneath him. They would have to wait until morning so they could blend in with the hustle and bustle of the crowds.

 

Richard plops down next to him. “But do I really look like one?”

 

“Does it matter?”

 

“ _ Yes.”  _

 

Damian rolls his eyes. He was  _ not  _ going to spend the next few hours listening to Richard to pester him. He almost regretted affirming that he seemed like a goody two shoes because Richard simply would not shut up about it until either Damian took back his statement or he did something drastic like stabbing him. He was the only one of his siblings that could make him regret what he said. It was very irritating and he would not let Richard win.

 

“We are  _ not  _ going to caught just because you are distraught because of the vibe you give off. We can continue this conversation at home where Todd and Drake will back me up.”

 

Richard just laughs and adjusts himself so he is hidden behind the branches of the shrub they were sitting next to.

 

~~~

They were ridiculously underdressed. Even the less fortunate had properly fitting clothing. Richard and himself, however, were a different story altogether. With their patched up oversized sweaters fraying at the seams, ripped pants, and shoes with parts of the sole missing, they stood out like a sore thumb. Throw in the fact that they weren't the most groomed individuals in the world (something that Richard found most scandalizing) and their general appearance, Damian was shocked they hadn't been called for questioning yet. Lack of diligence on their part, he decides. 

 

“Okay, so we should probably try to get clothes first, so we can blend in a bit better. I don't wanna push my luck walking around in these.” He gestures at himself.

 

Damian nods and they make their way to a small shop. The owner is already eyeing them suspiciously, so he lets Richard take over. He was far better at putting people at ease than he was, for some reason. Perhaps it was the sword. Or maybe his ‘general lack of all humane kindness and compassion in his appearance’, as Todd put it. Speaking of it, he really missed his sword. He usually had it with him at all times, but walking around in the city with a broken sword would cause too much suspicion. A pity. 

 

After a good ten minutes of Richard making a fool of himself to appease the owner, they are finally able to walk around the shop without the owner's glare trailing after them.

 

They had agreed to each get a new shirt, jacket, and pants. As well as steal a pair for Todd and Drake in the process.

 

“What do you think?” Richard emerges from the small dressing room, clad in a dark blue sweater and a black jacket, as well as a dark pair of jeans.

 

Damian rolls his eyes. “I see you chose the tightest pants possible, as always.”

 

“Hey. You never know when you're gonna run into someone attractive.”

 

“And which one of our ‘neighbors’ do you hope to impress? Joker? Scarecrow? Surely not Bane, he's far too brutish for your tastes.”

 

Richard throws his ratty boots at him, which Damian swats out of the way, but doesn't respond to his baiting. “Try on yours while I go find something for Jay and Tim.”

 

“If you insist.” He rolls his eyes and walks into the dressing room. In reality, he was relieved. Richard was far better at choosing clothing that their two other siblings wouldn't outright hate  _ and  _ he enjoyed it, so that meant that he didn't have to concern himself with something as trivial as making sure the shit he got Todd ‘matched his eyes’ or whatever.

 

He pulls on the simple dark green sweater and a jacket that is similar to Richard's. He eyes a yellow sweater, but knows that it would be very impractical to wear yellow. It was not a good color to wear when you are trying to be subtle. Once he pulls on his new jeans he walks to where Richard was holding some articles of clothing.

 

“Put these on.” He catches a pair of new boots and immediately discards his old ones. Richard has a similar pair on. “We'll get Tim and Jay a pair as we're leaving, carrying around shoes is too bulky and we have to be fast.”

 

He nods and then asks “Did you take off the tags?”

 

Richard nods and kicks said tags under a rack of clothing. “And got rid of our old stuff. Can't have people finding those here, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out what happened.”

 

They wait until the owner is preoccupied before slipping silently out of the back.

 

“That was too easy.”

 

“Yeah, but let's just try to get all the other stuff we need before our luck runs out. We're supposed to be home tonight and if we don't make it they'll probably lose it.”

 

Damian doesn't respond. Instead, he adjusts the straps to his bag and shoulders it. They were able to blend in far better now, thanks to the clothing. Everyone had been immediately suspicious of the two because of their old, disintegrating clothing and ripped shoes, but as soon as they had changed, they hadn't even gotten a second glance. It was remarkable how something as trivial as clothing could change people's perception of others. 

 

“Damian!” He turns to see Richard grinning from ear to ear, walking towards him with something in both hands.

 

“Is that-”

 

“Ice cream!” He laughs, handing Damian one of them. “I got you pineapple.”

 

Damian takes it and holds it in front of him almost reverently. He had only had ice cream twice before, on the day Father brought him home from the orphanage and one other day that didn't really warrant the treat.

 

_ *** _

 

 **September** **7th, 4036.**

 

_ Father was going to kick him out to the streets, this time he was sure. He had been getting into small fights that resulted in letters going with him for weeks, and Father hadn't been pleased. Of course he didn't yell or glare at him, but he knew. Father's mouth would morph into a thin, tight line and his eyes would become slightly dull and he'd let out a quiet sigh when he thought that no one could hear him. Damian  _ hated  _ disappointing his father. He had tried his best not to cause more trouble, but then those kids had started laughing at him, telling him that he didn't belong with them because he was adopted. ‘You shouldn't even be alive right now,’ they had jeered, ‘everyone knows that if you don't get adopted soon they kill you. The only reason you're here is because some dumb grown up felt sorry for you and now they have to live with  _ you  _ for the rest of their lives.’  _

 

_ He was sure they had said other things too, but once they had mentioned Father, he lost it. He  _ never  _ ran from a fight. It was cowardly. That's what his mother and grandfather taught him before they left. And they made sure that Damian would never  _ lose  _ a fight either. And so the first punch flew towards the kid's nose. And then a kick. And then a jab. And then he was being pulled away from the two kids and into the principal's office by two teachers. He kept kicking and screaming. Logically, he knew that if he calmed down, he could escape and run off, but something had snapped, and he wouldn't stop.  _

 

_ And then they told him. They were going to call his father. As soon as the words had left the principal's mouth, he shut down. Nobody in Gotham had much money, except for the people who run it, but Father lived in the part of town that was especially poor. He worked hard to provide them with what they needed, and to call him would take him away from work. And then Father would realize that he  _ was  _ too much of a bother and he'd kick him out. He didn't want Father to make him leave.  _

 

_ The minutes before his father came in were agonizingly slow, and by the time Father walked through the door and spoken with the principal, tears had begun streaking down his face. He pinched his arm, trying to make himself stop, but they were stubborn.  _

 

_ Finally, Father walked up to him. Damian hung his head, waiting for him to reprimand him, but instead, he felt two strong arms wrap around him. He opened one of his eyes and Father smiled at him and lifts him up, and puts him down standing next to him.  _

 

_ “Come with me,” he said. “I'm done with work today so we can go do something.” _

 

_ Damian knew he was lying but takes his hand anyways. _

 

_ ~~~ _

_ “Stay here,” Father told him and disappeared. _

 

_ For a brief moment, Damian panicked and wondered if Father had left him for good, but then he saw him making his way towards him, holding something in his hand. _

 

_ “Its ice cream,” Bruce told him. “Remember when I got it for you last time?” _

 

_ Damian nodded. He had been eight. He tasted it and was met with the most delicious flavor he'd ever had. “What is it?” He asked, mouth slightly ajar.  _

 

_ Father laughed. “Pineapple.” _

 

_ “I love pineapple.” He told Father. “It's my  _ favorite.”

 

_ “It's my favorite too.” Father agreed. _

 

_ “It's just for me? I don't have to share?” _

 

_ “Just for you. It'll be our little secret.” Father winked and grabbed him by his unoccupied hand. “Let's go home and start on dinner, okay? I already bought everything we need.” _

 

_ Damian took his hand and followed him home. _

 

_ ~~~ _

 

_ That night, he noticed that Father didn't have food for himself, even though Damian and his brothers were eating and he understood. Father had spent his portion of dinner on Damian.  _

 

_ He tried to share his with Father, but he just shook his head and smiled. “I'm the dad, Damian. It's my job to make sure you're happy and taken care for, not the other way around.” _

 

_ *** _

 

**December 17th 4044**

 

“How did you afford this?” He eyes Richard, knowing fully well that ice cream was  _ not  _ something people could just afford. Maybe years ago, but not now.

 

“It really wasn't that expensive,” Richard begins, licking at his strawberry flavored ice cream, “Gotham was just  _ way  _ worse off than the other city-states. The price of one in Gotham is enough to buy  _ five  _ here. That is, considering you buy and don't steal it like I just did.” he finishes quietly, but the smile on his face is growing larger by the second.

 

Normally he'd make a jab at Richard, but for now, he was content with his ice cream. 

 

~~~

 

“Okay...clothes and shoes for Jason and Tim? Check. Medicine? Check. Food? Check. Damian? Check.” Richard gives through his list about four more times before Damian loses his patience.

 

“If you're done,” he begins, annoyance dripping from his words, “I do believe it's time to leave. You can complete your little counting exercise when we are  _ out  _ of this ridiculously privileged society.”

 

“This is why Jason can't have a normal conversation with you without trying to stab you.”

 

“Don't forget about Drake attempting to poison me.”

 

“This is  _ exactly  _ why whenever we have to go somewhere I'm your buddy.”

 

“Tt. As if Drake and Todd are so close themselves.”

 

“At least they're not making an outright attempt on each other's lives.”

 

Damian is about to respond when suddenly a dome rises over the city, blocking out their exit. A voice echoes through various speakers saying, “ _ Attention citizens, there has been a breach. There are outsiders stealing our valuable resources. Please follow Code Red Number 76 and return to your homes. Each household will then be asked to show proof of residence. Please do not panic. The authorities have this under control.” _

 

Richard's eyes look like they're going to fly out of his head and onto the ground. “‘Don't  _ panic? _ ” He snarls. “ _ ‘Don't panic?’  _ Who the hell do they think we are? Just because we live in the woods we're going to kill someone? If they gave us supplies every so often we wouldn't  _ have  _ to steal.” 

 

Everyone is slowly streaming into their homes and soon it would be obvious just who the intruders were. Damian steels his nerve, and he watches Richard do the same, his agitated features smoothing into a pleasant, calm facade. Damian hopes he looks the same, but he probably still looks ready to murder someone. Both Drake and Todd, as well as most of their  _ neighbors  _ have informed him that his face is in a constant state of annoyance and general dislike. 

 

That was before a blonde haired girl walks up to them and sighs loudly. “ _ There  _ you are! Mom's been worried  _ sick!  _ Now hurry up before she kicks your asses for not telling her you were going out today.” She grabs both their arms and tugs them along, and a guard sends them a pitying look. He clearly believed her story, and if Damian was being honest, he probably would too. She was a natural actor.

 

She drags them into her home and slams the door behind her. Locking it, she turns around and smiles widely at them, hands on her hips. “I'm Artemis. You're welcome, by the way.”

 

“Thanks…”

 

“Oh please, I could tell you both weren't from here from about a mile away,” she snorts, swatting her hand derisively “you don't have to pretend like you actually live here.”

 

He hears Richard sigh. “I'm Dick. That's Damian.”

 

Artemis raises an eyebrow. “You willingly go by that or…?”

 

“That's my name,” Richard assures her with a lazy smile.

 

“If you say so. Mom! I found them!” She hollers, and soon a woman wheels her way to the living room. 

 

“Good afternoon, boys.” She smiles warmly. “My name is Paula Crock. You are more than welcome to stay here until the search gets called off and the dome lifts. They make mistakes assuming people have snuck in all the time, so you shouldn't have to wait long.”

 

Richard slightly bows his head. “Thank you so much.”

 

There's a knock at the door and both Richard and Damian disappear. They haven't been training to be silent and stealthy their whole lives for nothing.

Artemis looks impressed before swinging the door open. 

 

“Officer Queen! Hi! What can I do for you today?”

 

The officer, to his credit, does his best not to blatantly show how much of a waste of time he thinks this procedure is and asks Artemis and Mrs. Crock for their proof of residency, despite the fact that he clearly knows who they are.

 

“Where's your sister?” Askes Officer Queen casually, leaning against the door.”

 

“That. Is a good question that I don't have the answer to.”

 

Someone yells something at Queen that Damian can't pick up but Artemis clearly did cuz she's covering her mouth in an attempt not to laugh.

 

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Anyways, have people to see, intruders to find. Have a good rest of the evening, folks.” Queen tells them, looking directly at Damian and winking at him, before pushing himself off the door post and walking off, closing the door behind him.

 

Damian drops to the ground and Richard follows a few seconds later. 

 

“He knows we're here.” States Damian.

 

Artemis rolls her eyes. “Of course he does, we  _ always  _ have people in here. It just so happens that he's my adoptive uncle so he just kinda goes with whatever I do. That and he doesn't give a rats ass about arresting people just cuz they're trying to survive.”

 

Damian frowns. He didn't like how easily Queen had spotted him. He would have to be more careful.

 

“Of course he didn't know  _ exactly  _ where you were, it's just that people always hide where you were, so he always winks towards that area, hoping to scare them. He finds it funny.”

 

Or perhaps he didn't. He still would pay more attention, however.

 

Mrs. Crock, as she requested they call her, smiles at him. “Why don't you two shower? When you're done you can eat dinner with us and by then the dome should be down.”

 

Richard smiles gratefully. “Thank you so much, ma'am.”

 

~~~

Damian can't remember the last time he felt this clean, but he wasn't complaining. 

 

After dinner, a  _ real  _ dinner, both he and Richard begin preparing to leave.

 

“You have Jay's stuff in your bag? I have Tim's in mine but I don't have Jason's in mine and I swear if we lost them I will  _ lose  _ it.”

 

Damian rolls his eyes but checks anyways. “It's all there.”

 

“And the food?”

 

“Everything that I have is accounted for.”

 

“I'm just checking. If we lose the stuff there wouldn't even be a reason to come here in the first place.”

 

“We got ice cream.” Damian points out.

 

“ _ And  _ you showered. I bet that both your other siblings are gonna kill you for that one.” Artemis’ voice rings out from the kitchen where she's helping her mother with the dishes. “No offense, but you weren't exactly the cleanest people I've ever seen.”

 

Richard says “None taken” the same time Damian snaps “You try living out there for eight years and then judge.” They look at each other. 

 

“Relax, I was just pointing out that you didn't come all the way here for  _ nothing,  _ per se.”

 

Damian plops onto the couch and huffs, only to feel something warm wiggle against him. Curious, he lifts a blanket to find a small black puppy nosing its way towards him. He picks him up and holds him close to his chest.

 

“Hi,” he says very softly. “I'm Damian. What's yours?” Logically he knew the dog wouldn't answer, but it seemed impolite not to ask.”

 

“He doesn't have one.” 

 

He looks up to see Artemis staring sadly at the puppy. 

 

“He's the runt, and he was sick for so long we thought he wouldn't make it, so mom wouldn't let us name him so we wouldn't be too attached to him when he died.”

 

“But what about now? He's fine now.”

 

“Mom says we have to give him away. I'm out too much and she can't really take care of him because of her situation.”

 

“May I name him?”

 

Richard looks like he wants to protest but Artemis shrugs. “Be my guest.”

 

Damian looks at the puppy wiggling in his grasp and thinks long and hard. Names were very important, and he could not just throw out any name he wanted. It had to be  _ right.  _

 

“Titus.” He decides. “Your name is Titus.”

 

Richard, with a burst of rare insight, acknowledges what's happening before Damian does.

 

“Great. So now we have a dog to take care of. Don't give me that look, Dami. Once you name him, you get  _ attached  _ to him. And so now we have to worry about a dog.”

 

Damian nods. “But he could be useful as well. He would make a good watchdog.” He knew that Richard was only trying to sound responsible. He wanted Titus as much as Damian did.

 

Richard doesn't even try to argue. “Perfect! But I don't have money, so that's on you, kiddo.”

 

Mrs. Crock, whose arrival Damian had not noticed because of Titus shakes her head. “Please. I know how difficult life can be outside the city walls. It will do you some good to have a companion like Titus around. Please, take him free of charge.”

 

Damian allows himself a small smile and Richard hugs the woman tightly. 

 

“Thank you so much for everything,” Richard begins, smiling, “but the dome went down about an hour ago and our brothers are probably assuming we're dead, since we're about two hours late.”

 

“By all means.” Smirks Artemis, opening the door for them. 

 

~~~

 

They got over the wall without much trouble, despite having a puppy tagging along with them. Titus was behaving absolutely perfectly, content with his position tucked in Damian's jacket. He didn't even make much noise, to their relief.

 

Now came the issue of making it to camp without being noticed by anyone unwelcome and ensuring that they didn't get injured from the torturous environment.

 

“I swear if Joker even  _ thinks  _ about attacking us I will actually scream. I am  _ not  _ getting these pants dirty until I absolutely have to.” Complains Richard, drawing his jacket tighter around himself and shifting his backpack into place. 

 

Damian just snorts and turns his attention to making sure he doesn't trip on the sharp rocks jutting out of the ground. The long uphill climb was hard enough, but with the rocky terrain littered with fallen plants and trees, it was nearly impossible to make the climb in the dark. 

 

Beggars couldn't be choosy, however, and he steels himself and continues climbing upwards.

 

~~~

 

About an hour passed by until the finally caught sight of their camp. Quietly they crept forwards towards the fire, hoping not to wake them.

 

In reality they didn't want Drake and Todd to wake up and yell at them for a good two hours for being late, but both he and Richard seem to have made a silent agreement to pretend that they just didn't want to wake them just because they cared about their sleep.

 

Drake and Todd, however, had other ideas.

 

“Well, you took your sweet time.” Drawled Todd from where he was leaning against the cabin.

 

Drake sat next to him, glaring something fierce.

 

Richard grins. “Hey, guys! You won't believe what happened today-”

 

“What took so long?” Todd cuts him off, looking unimpressed.

 

“We may have gotten locked inside Star City for a while cuz they suspected that people had broken in-” Richard pauses, but hurries when he sees the expression that crosses Todd's face “but we didn't get caught! Someone helped us out!”

 

“Oh?” He raises an eyebrow. “Damian, have something you wanna contribute?”

 

“Got a dog.”

 

“I'm sorry,  _ what?”  _ Drake finally speaks, and he sounded even worse than he looked.

 

“Got a dog.” He repeats and pulls out Titus from his jacket.

 

Drake and Todd gape at him.

 

“His name's Titus.”

 

Todd eyes Titus warily and looks at Richard. “You OKed this?”

 

Richard shrugs. “He'll be a good watchdog.”

 

“Bullshit.” Jason laughs. “You just wanted the dog.”

 

“I don't see you protesting.” Richard counters, looking at Drake who had made his way over to Damian, somehow gotten him to sit so he wouldn't have to stand, and was petting Titus while muttering things that only a person who had been awake for over seventy-two hours would understand.

 

Normally Damian would have taken Titus from him, but he supposes that for tonight, given the state Drake was in, he would allow it. 

 

Todd makes his way over to Drake and sits down next to him. “Titus, huh?” He says softly, reaching to pet him, dodging Drake's disturbingly accurate strike for a man who hasn't slept in three days.

 

Yawning, Richard makes his way over to where the rest of them were sitting, falls down next to Drake in the most ungraceful way possible, and pats his lap. Titus immediately waddles towards him, leaving a protesting Drake behind him.

 

Richard picks him up. “Aw.” He coos. “I'm his favorite.” 

 

That was enough sharing for one day. Damian extracts Titus from Richard’s grip and stops towards the cabin, leaving his laughing brothers behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading :)


	4. discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so i had to study for two tests and a speech to write so that's why this is kinda late rip sorry guys lmao

Tim

 

**December 18th 4044**

 

The atmosphere was light and everywhere around him, it was quiet. The snow usually did that, nobody, no matter how crazy (except Dick and the demon spawn, apparently) would be caught walking around when the slick ice and snow was pretty much a nonrefundable ticket for a broken ankle, arm, or neck. Everyone, for the most part, was glad when the snows came because that guaranteed that everyone would be able to get a full night's sleep. It was an unofficial, unspoken agreement between everyone who was living outside of a city-state's border. Besides, if someone took advantage of everyone else being unprepared, they'd never be able to let their guard down, because everyone always exacted revenge for things like that. And then it would continue on and on in an annoying cycle that everyone would like to avoid. Hence the unsteady truce; “when the snow comes we all leave each other alone and let each other sleep in peace because god knows we need it”. 

 

So, as a result, every living person out here was sleeping. Everyone except for Tim. It was about two in the morning and he was  _ still  _ awake, despite Dick insisting that they all go to bed early (about 10:00).

 

There was a fine line between ‘cute and sleepy’ and ‘I haven't slept in seventy-two hours and I will end you’ and Tim had overstepped that line in leaps and bounds. If he was being completely honest with himself, he'd gone far longer without sleeping before, but something about the freezing temperature just sapped the energy from the body. He pulls the jacket that Dick had brought back for him closer around himself and burrows deeper in the blanket he was using, trying to conserve heat and hopefully get himself to sleep.

 

He had been having issues with it for a while now and it was starting to worry him. He had never had the best sleeping schedule but it was becoming ridiculous. He turns his head and glares at his sleeping brothers. Lucky bastards. The only way he was  _ ever  _ going to get some sleep is if someone drugs him and knocks him out.

 

Ivy had done that a few weeks ago, and he's pretty sure she's still confused over why he had been so grateful later on. That was the most sleep he'd had in months. 

 

Tossing and turning, he finally crosses his arms and remembers what Bruce had told him once.  _ ‘If you're annoyed that you can't sleep, your body won't let you sleep. If you're  _ grateful  _ that you can't sleep, you'll fall asleep faster than Damian can shout a death threat at you.’  _ “I am  _ so  _ happy I'm not asleep right now,’ he grumbles to himself “I am literally so excited that I am awake, sitting here all alone while everyone around me is sleeping. It's absolutely exhilarating. Wouldn't change it for a thing! I  _ love  _ not sleeping. It's part of my branding. Who else can stand up after not sleeping for four days straight and immediately pass out? Damian sure can't!” He rattles on sarcastically, thanking whatever's out there that Jason's asleep so he wouldn't make fun of him later.

 

He's not sure if pretending to be grateful actually worked or if he just got exhausted from trying to come up with new ways to say how grateful he was, but one way or another he managed to fall asleep. He's pretty sure he gets in a good three hours of sleep, hey beggars can't be choosy and three hours was a  _ lot  _ more than he was used to getting, but he gets woken up by Dick and Damian speaking to each other quietly.

 

Right before he's about to grumble “It's literally five a.m. right now can you two seriously not wait  _ at least _ one more hour?” He picks up on what Dick's saying and his curiosity gets the better of him. Pretending to be asleep, he shifts slightly closer and listens in to what they were saying. Eavesdropping may not be one of his best qualities, but it was certainly one that entertained him the most. And he knew the most about everything, as a result, an added bonus.

 

“-did you hear what Officer Queen told Artemis and Mrs. Crock?”

 

He can barely make out Damian shaking his head, but he can hear him clear as day. “I was too far away, but I'm assuming you did?”

 

“He mentioned something about people in all four of the remaining city-states are randomly getting abducted and the officials have no idea who's taking them or where they're taking them.”

 

Tim can't see him but he  _ knows  _ Damian's face is making that disbelieving scowl he makes whenever something doesn't make sense or he thinks someone is being a dumbass. In this case, he's probably thinking both of those things.

 

“Why _anyone_ would want to take those rich and pampered brats is beyond me, but I really don't see how that's our concern. We need to continue searching for Father-wait.”

 

It hits Tim only seconds before it hits Damian, and, even though his eyes are closed he's willing to bet a large sum of money (that he didn't have but that's beside the point) that Dick was making that smug grin that's  _ supposed  _ to mean “I'm smarter than you” but always comes across as “I'm slightly insane and you should probably stay away from me”. Or at least it looks like that to Tim. He could be wrong. Probably not.

 

Damian's voice becomes a little louder as he whispers “You mean to tell me Father could have been abducted as well?”

 

Dick shushes him. “I don't wanna wake up Tim,” he hisses, “he hasn't been getting enough sleep and I don't like it.” 

 

Tim rolls his eyes.

 

“But Father disappeared years ago. Not recently.”

 

“But we don't actually know if these abductions are a recent thing. They could have been occurring for years and Officer Queen could have just mentioned it to them.”

 

“I don't think he just happened to mention it.” Damian has an audible frown in his voice. “When we were there he looked right at me and winked.”

 

Dick shakes his head. “Artemis said he always does that.” 

 

“No.” The amount of emphasis Damian put on the word was impressive. “He looked directly into my eyes. We made eye contact. He  _ knew  _ I was there.”

 

“Not many people can find you so easily.” Dick's voice had gone flat. “If he knew you were there, there is a chance he told them that hoping that we'd overhear him. It could be a trap.”

 

“Don't be so cowardly, Richard.” Damian sniffs pretentiously. “If there's a chance that we can find Father, we have to take it. Trap or not, he'd do the same for us.”

 

Tim turns his head and it takes every single ounce of training and self-control to not scream at the top of his lungs. Jason was laying down two inches away from him, head in his hands, staring intently at Dick and Damian. Jason's annoyingly green eyes slide over to meet his eyes for a second, a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, before turning back to watch their other two brothers with an intensity he usually reserves for food.

 

“Still.” Dick hesitates for a second. “I don't know if we should tell Jay and Tim yet. I don't want to get them involved until we know for sure. It's too risky with all of us running around demanding information about people being abducted. One of  _ us  _ would probably get abducted just for asking around too much.”

 

Before Damian can agree or viciously chew out Dick for being a coward, he hears a different voice ring out.

 

“I, for one, think that's a  _ marvelous  _ idea, Dickie.” Jason announces, now sitting up and leisurely stretching his arms over his head.

 

Somewhat annoyed, Tim also sits up and shrugs when Damian and Dick whirl around and look at them both.

 

“Didn't Father ever tell you it's rude to eavesdrop on other people.” Snaps Damian.

 

“No, actually. He taught us  _ how  _ to eavesdrop on other people.”

 

Dick has the ‘that's an extremely fair point’ look on his face but he knows better than to get involved with Damian when he was angry. There was a reason his nickname was ‘demon spawn” and it wasn't his easygoing smile. 

 

Of course, he wasn't actually angry, just pissed off that he hadn't been able to notice that they were awake and listening in on their conversation. He always got worked up about stuff like that. Something about being the youngest and having to prove himself. 

 

Tim, personally, couldn't be bothered with trying to be the absolute best at everything. It was too much effort. And he  _ was  _ the best, so there's that. At least in his opinion. 

 

Before anyone had a chance to finish the conversation, there was a loud noise. All three of them jumped up and ran outside, Jason pushing Tim and Damian out of the way in the process.

 

“Hey!”

 

“Todd! I'll slit your throat!”

 

Jason doesn't look back, instead, he just flips them off and runs to where Dick was already standing, at the edge of their territory, looking at something in the distance.

 

“I have absolutely no idea where the noise came from, but it  _ might  _ have something to do with that. And it pretty much confirms what I heard from Officer Queen.” Dick tells them as they jog up to him, and points to something that Tim can't see.

 

Tim peers closer and tries to see what it is, but he can't make out anything but broken up rocks.

 

Jason and Damian look just as confused, which helps him feel a bit better about himself but he still can't figure out why Dick thinks a pile of rocks that have been there for years was suddenly so significant.

 

Tim tilts his head, hoping the slight change of perspective would help. It didn't.

 

Jason looks uneasily back and forth between Dick and the rocks. “Um. Yeah...Dickie I think you might be spending too much time hanging upside down ‘cuz...there's nothing there. It's literally a pile of rocks.”

 

Dick's eyes widen about five times wider than normal in exasperation. “You're kidding me right?”

 

If it hadn't been the middle of winter, crickets would've started chirping.

 

“Richard…” Damian begins, “are you sure you've gotten enough sleep lately?”

 

Dick pushes his hair out of his eyes and fixes them with a deadpan stare and points once more.

 

Instead of looking down, they look straight ahead and finally see what Dick had been pointing at.

 

In the horizon, suspended in the air, were strange ship looking objects. One had smoke streaming out of it, and even though it was far away, it was still visibly damaged. 

 

“Oh. Yeah, that makes a  _ lot  _ more sense than the pile of rocks did.”

 

“Obviously. Let's go!” Dick launches himself forwards, over the edge of the cliff and lands on a tree branch and looks back at them. “Hurry up!”

 

“What about if one of the Rogues comes and takes advantage of all of us being gone?” Jason questions, but Tim knows he doesn't really care. He wants to go just as bad as the rest of them. 

 

Tim makes his way towards Dick, though with admittedly less grace. “There's a  _ ton  _ of snow and everything of value is hidden. Besides, it  _ is  _ six in the morning. Nobody's gonna be up for at least another hour. Probably two. No one wants to be up at 8 when it's so cold out.”

 

Damian turns to look at Jason. “You heard our conversation. Father could be there. We have to check.” 

 

Jason rolls his eyes. “I was never suggesting that we  _ don't  _ go. I was just making sure that we don't get robbed in the process.”

 

~~~

Halfway there Dick freezes up. “Oh my god.” He whispers loud enough for everyone to hear. “ _ Titus.  _ We forgot Titus.”

 

Tim is just about to freak out when he hears Damian snort.

 

“You're a bunch of imbeciles.” He tells them and then pulls aside his jacket to reveal Titus well secured to his chest, wagging his tail excitedly.

 

“I  _ knew  _ there wasn't a reason you weren't trying, and failing, to outperform Dick's acrobatic stunts.” Jason grins and makes his way towards Damian. “I changed my mind.  _ I _ ' _ ll  _ be Damian's buddy for today.”

 

“Tt. You only care about Titus.”

 

“Absolutely.”

 

Tim shrugs. “Fine with me. If I have to spend one more second with Jason I'll lose it.”

 

“Can't lose what you can't have!” Jason calls back.

 

“I'll have you know that I'm the sanest person here!” Yells back Tim.

 

“Wait, guys,” Dick vaults himself towards the ground, flipping and landing gracefully onto the forest floor. If he hears Jason call him a ‘show off’ he doesn’t respond.

 

Tim lands next to him and looks at what Dick was looking out. This time, he knows exactly what Dick is looking at. 

 

While it was disguised to look like a normal boulder, he could make out the faintest outline of a door. Whoever had made this had been very good. They would have entirely missed it if Dick hadn’t had a mini breakdown over Titus.

 

Damian shoulders his way between Tim and Dick while Jason yells “This is why I hate being your buddy!” from where he was still in the trees.

 

“I want to open it.”

 

“What happened to get to those spaceships no matter what?”

 

“The chances of finding this place again is slim. Spaceships are not as easy to hide, even with cloaking technology. Drake could still locate them.”

 

“Could he now?” Asks Tim.

 

“Yes, you are regrettably very intelligent.”

 

“Thanks, I think.”

 

“Don’t thank me. Open the door.”

 

“This is why nobody likes you, Damian.”

 

“Richard likes me.”

 

“Dick  _ is  _ a nobody.” Jason offers.

 

“Nobody asked for your input, Jason.” 

 

“But I gave it anyway, dick.” 

 

“I’m gonna pretend that you said my name instead of calling me an actual dick.” Dick eyes Jason, unimpressed and turns back to Tim, who was busy trying to hack the code that was needed to open the door.

“You good, Tim?”

 

“Whoever made this was slightly smarter than me.” He huffs and looks back at Jason. “Slightly.” He emphasizes. 

 

Jason shrugs. “Whatever you say, Timmers.”

 

Tim goes back to trying to hack the code. ‘I need more sleep. I  _ could  _ be sleeping. But Dick and Damian just  _ had  _ to have their super secret club meeting right in front of me. They couldn’t have gone outside.’ 

 

He spends a good twenty minutes trying to open it before the pad finally flashes green and he pushes the door open.

 

“See Jason? We did it without blowing anything up. Amazing, right?”

 

“Absolutely astounding. Now let’s look at what we just wasted twenty minutes of our lives for.” He swings open the door and almost gets hit in the face with a flying knife. “What the _ fuck _ ?”

 

Tim shrugs. “I never disabled the security systems.”

 

“I did not die just to die again just because you forgot to do your job.”

 

“Unfortunate.” But he goes about disabling the security anyways. He didn’t want Jason’s ghost haunting him; when he was alive Tim could at least avoid him. If his dead spirit was following him around, he’d never be able to ignore him. Another twenty minutes went by before he finished.

 

~~~

 

The cave was dark. Tim didn’t know what he expected, honestly. LED lights? ‘Get real’ he tells himself. There was no way there could be electricity in here.

 

“Hey! I found a light switch!” Dick calls out before a blinding light engulfs the room.

 

Blinking to adjust to the light, he looks around, astonished. ‘Huh. There  _ are  _ LED lights.” 

 

“Dude, don’t look now but there are a ton of bats in that corner.”

 

Tim rolls his eyes. “Jason, you’re the only one who’s scared of bats. Why are you telling me?”

 

“So you can get rid of them for me, obviously.”

 

“Ask Dick. There’s a computer over there that’s screaming my name.”

 

“Dick’s still pissed at me for calling him a nobody and Damian will laugh at me.”

 

“Tragic.” He makes his way towards the computer and sits down in the chair and wastes no time turning it on and hacking his way into it, vaguely aware of Jason hovering over his shoulder.

 

“A  _ batcave  _ with a computer with it? What type of loner…” Jason trails off as he watches Tim. “What are you doing?”

 

“I’m trying to hack into one of the remaining satellites that are still in orbit. Hopefully, we’ll get a better look at what’s going on with these spaceships.”

 

Damian and Dick crowd around him, peering over his shoulders and he does his best not to elbow them. He hated when people hung over him when he was trying to focus.

 

“Got it!” He presses ‘Enter’ and suddenly the screen changes to what the satellite was seeing.  A fleet of ships were all in position, an eerie green color emanating from a source that wasn’t visible. They stare at it for about five seconds and then the screen starts to fritz out, and then turns to static.

 

“Oh,” Tim laughs, “This is _ just  _ what we need.” He seriously needed to get more sleep.

 

“Guess Officer Queen was right after all. We gotta go find him and talk to him. He might know more.”

 

Nobody answers, instead they just stare at the black screen. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading :)


	5. glass cases

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry its late uwu i had a lot of homework and stuff so i didn't really have any time to write rip

Chapter Five 

Jason 

 

**December 19, 4044**

 

He was sure there had been a time when a person's biggest problem was being scared to ask a fast food employee for more ketchup, or something along those lines. Too bad that time wasn't now.

 

He honestly didn't get it. Canada was gone, and so was most of Europe. Half of Asia had sunk. The southern half of North America was completely gone, and South America had been uninhabitable for years. No one was sure what happened to Africa and Australia. Antarctica was probably as uninhabitable as it's always been. All the resources have been drained away and the rich were  _ still  _ overusing them, while everyone around them was struggling to survive. Hell, some people didn't survive. 

 

Basically, the world has gone to absolute shit. Everything was terrible and he and his siblings spent every moment of their lives fighting desperately to survive. Everything sucked, and now aliens decided they wanted to invade earth. Frankly, he doesn't see why they would want to take over this useless floating rock, but who is he to judge. And their dad was missing on top of all that.

 

All in all, Jason was fucking exhausted and he wasn't going to catch a break anytime soon. At least he was better off than Tim. Speaking of Tim, the kid was currently passed out on the floor of the cave, hugging the chair he had been sitting on earlier.

 

He resists the urge to wake him up, mainly because Dick would murder him if he found out that Jason had deprived good ol’ Timbolina of his beauty sleep. 

 

“Is he actually asleep?” Dick whispers from across the cave, the sound echoing loudly from the walls. Dick winces. “My bad.” he mouths.

 

He shuffles towards Jason, dragging a sheet of paper along with him. “They actually have paper in here,” he gushes “I missed paper so much. I had such pretty handwriting in school.”

 

“Dick your handwriting is shit.”

 

“It is  _ not _ .” He waves the paper in his hand for emphasis and then puts it down next to Jason. “Damian and I have been working on a plan how to get into the city undetected while you were here cowering from the bats.” He holds up his finger when Jason opens his mouth to protest and continues. “Because we got into the city like two days ago, the chances of getting caught are way higher than normal. Usually, we avoid even entering on, and now we have to enter one twice in the same week. 

 

So, Damian and I decided that we should break off into groups of two. Damian and I will use a different entrance while you and Tim use the usual one. We then meet up here” he shows Jason a crudely drawn map and points to a small restaurant “and we group together and go to Artemis’ house. Because people have seen Damian and I walking with her before, it won't cause much suspicion that we're at her house. We then ask her how to get in touch with Officer Queen. Once she tells us and we get the information from him, we leave at separate times to avoid suspicion.”

 

Before he can respond Damian, who had been doing something with Titus, walked up to them, clutching the small dog in his arms. 

 

“If one of us gets caught, the other three will be there to help them escape.” He informs Jason.

 

“And what if three of us gets captured and there's only one of us to get us all out?” 

 

“Then I'd be the one who doesn't get captured, so you don't have to worry about staying in jail overnight.” Damian puts down Titus and plops down next to Dick, scooting closer to the paper that was placed between them. “Richard, your handwriting is absolutely abhorrent.”

 

“It is  _ not.”  _ Dick snaps, jerking the paper away from both of them. “If you wanna rewrite the entire damn thing be my guest.” 

 

Jason and Damian look at each other before Jason silently takes the paper from their older brother and turns it over and starts to write, each word in perfect cursive. He gets about four sentences in before Dick throws his shoe at his head. Ducking out of the way, he throws him an unimpressed glare and continues writing. The shoe lands about fifteen feet away. 

 

Jason looks behind him to where the shoe was sitting on the ground. “How hard did you throw that shoe?” he demands.

 

Dick shrugs nonchalantly with an unapologetic expression. “I knew you'd dodge it.”

 

“More like hoped.” Mutters Damian, who had turned his attention back to the squirming puppy.

 

Incredulous, Jason points behind him. “Go get your shoe, Dick.”

 

Dick vaults effortlessly over him and lands gracefully on his feet, turning around to make sure that they saw him, and when he saw them looking in his direction he sends them a bright grin and walks towards his abandoned shoe.

 

Jason shakes his head and goes back to his writing. “I just wanna apologize to whoever ends up with him beforehand.”

 

Damian, for once agrees with him without a snide comment or a biting remark. “It really is a pity.”

 

Jason laughs and hands him the paper and tells him to finish it while grabbing Titus and putting him in his lap. The dog looks up at him and barks sharply. He laughs but lightly covers his mouth. “Shhh,” he tells him “If you wake up Tim Dick will blame me and then nothing I could do would protect me from his flying shoe.”

 

Titus barks again. 

 

“You want me to get in trouble, don't you?” 

 

Titus excitedly barks again, wagging his tail furiously.

 

Tim stirs and Jason grabs Titus and runs across the cave as quietly as possible. There was no way he was getting hit by one of Dick's shoes because of Timmers. 

 

Dick had a very uncanny ability to aim shoes, once when they were younger he had been bothering Tim and Dick had curved his shoe around the corner and hit Jason, and Jason knew if Dick really wanted to, he'd hit Jason before he had a chance to react. Dick had been the only one to pick up that particular skill from Bruce. Weapons? Anyone would throw and curve them with ease, but shoes? That was reserved for both Dick and Bruce and no one else. Dick could only curve the left one for some reason though.

 

Speaking of Dick, he had been uncharacteristically quiet for quite some time. He looks around and he can't see him anymore. He laughs nervously. Tim liked to make jokes about Dick having certain superpowers but if he could actually turn invisible, that would bode very badly for himself. How was he supposed to protect himself from flying shoes if he couldn't even see him?

 

Titus under one arm and his other hand running through his hair, he walks towards where Dick's shoe had landed and stops, looking down at where the shoe had been. Both the left shoe and Dick were gone, which wasn't good.

 

“Dick” he begins, “I  _ swear  _ Tim's asleep and if he did wake up, Damian's the one next to him, not me.” He doesn't get an answer, which means either when Dick was invisible he became deaf, or Dick wasn't invisible and just wandered down hallway cut way the cave. The hallway with the bats in it.

 

He eyes it warily and looks back at where Damian was still writing and Tim was still unaware of the virtually anything around him and briefly wonders if he could ask Damian to go in a way that wouldn't give him more ways to make fun of him. 

 

He decides he'd rather brave the bats than deal with Damian making fun of him.

 

He makes his way down the dimly lit passage, gripping Titus to his chest.

 

“Dick?” He calls. No answer. He rolls his eyes and yells again louder this time. Still no answer. Grumbling, he keeps walking. “I'll kill you, Dickface.” He mutters as he rounds a corner, almost breaking his ankle on a loose rock that dislodged when he stepped on it.

 

“Shit.” 

 

Titus whines in protest and he loosens his grip on him. “Sorry for saving you from falling,” he tells the dog. Titus just licks his hand and tries to wiggle out of his grip. He unzips his jacket and places Titus against his chest and zips it back up, and continues on.

 

He sees a part up ahead that's brighter than the rest of the hallway and quickened his pace.

 

“Dick I-” he stops as he rounds the corner and sees what Dick was staring up at. There were a number of glass cases, and in each one was a suit towering above them. He stands next to Dick who was looking up at a bat-themed suit. On either side, there were two other cases with other suits. On the right was a black and blue suit with a domino mask and a pair of eskrima sticks laid next to the sturdy boots. Next to that one was another suit that was black, red, yellow and green. another domino mask and a pair of identical katanas were next to the boots. On the left was a grey suit. A domino mask, as well as a red helmet, was laid next to a pair of boots, along with a gun and two identical daggers. Next to that was about suit, mostly red and black. Another domino mask was paired with a bo staff. There were other suits, some bows and arrows, others with lightning bolts, and a suit with a cryptic “S” on it.  

 

He focuses on the suit with the red helmet. “These are tailored for us and our abilities.” It wasn't a question.

 

Dick nods and lightly touches the black and blue suit's case. 

 

“Which means the bat suit is Bruce's.”

 

Dick nods again. 

 

“What about the others?”

 

Dick shakes his head, his bangs falling into his eyes. “Why didn't Bruce tell me?” He whispers.

 

Jason wants to roll his eyes but doesn't. He knew that as the oldest Dick had had to deal with things that the rest of them didn't, but that also meant that Bruce had told him more things as well. The others were used to Bruce not letting them into his little secrets. But Dick, who's been working closely with him since the rest were adopted (and probably before that) to ensure that everyone was getting by, is probably crushed that Bruce decided that he didn't need to tell Dick about his bat-fursona.

 

“Um.” He clears his throat and tries again. “He probably had a good reason on for it?” It sounds very weak and if someone had told him that he'd probably punch them. Dick just keeps on staring at the suits.

 

“These are made for combat. I checked out the back and there are plenty replacements for the weapons, suits, and the other equipment,” he tells Jason, and Jason swears he hears a slight tremble in his usually upbeat voice.

 

“What gave it away, was it the gun or the katana?” He tries to make a joke, but it sounds bad even to him. He cringes.

 

“You're so funny,” Dick tells him with an eye roll.

 

“I try.” At least Dick wasn’t moping over Bruce’s dream team collection. He eyes the suits again. “Are we gonna tell the two twerps?”

“Tell us what?” Tim’s voice rings out right next to him and he almost jumps out of his skin. Either his siblings were getting quieter, or he needed to start paying more attention to his surroundings. Damian appears next to Tim, silently staring at the weapons case.

 

Jason runs his fingers through his hair, tugging at his bangs. “This is karma for listening in to you and the short stack’s conversation isn’t it?”

 

Dick shrugs, not looking away from the glass cases. “Karma’s a bitch.”

 

Damian moves next to Dick, eyes trained on the katanas. “Those are mine.” He reaches out and runs his fingertips over the glass, probably looking for the opening.

 

“Really? I thought the bright yellow suit with the tacky lightning bolt on it and no weapons was yours.”

 

“And I thought you had better observational skills than that, but obviously we’re both mistaken.”

 

“I was being sarcastic.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Why are you like this?” Jason looks over at him with a pained expression. 

 

“Because you are like  _ that.” _

He places his left hand over his chest before realizing it on the wrong side and quickly changes his hands, placing his right hand over his heart. “That was uncalled for.”

 

“Your face is uncalled for.”

 

“Real mature.”

 

They continue squabbling while Dick and Tim quietly converse with one another, not paying the other two any attention.

 

“At least it’s not you and Jason.” Dick attempts, giving him a half smile.

 

Tim rolls his eyes and rolls his shoulders, which were still stiff from the position he had fallen asleep in. “Not now, but it will be soon enough.”

 

“Speaking of annoying partners, how are we gonna keep Dami from taking those katanas with him to Star City?”

 

“We can’t.”

 

“We have to. Walking around with a katana is the perfect way to attract attention and suspicion.”

 

Tim shrugs his shoulders. “You’re right, but you’re the one telling him, not me. I like having me in perfect condition, thank you very much.”

“You sure? You look like you could use a chiropractor.” 

 

“And you look like you could use four different facial treatments but you don’t see me saying anything.”

 

Jason and Damian stop fighting in horror and stare at Dick.

 

Dick’s eyes widen comically and he opens and closes his mouth a couple of times before what Tim said registers in his brain. “Did you just?”

 

Tim, who’s facial expression screams  _ ‘I’ve had like six hours of sleep in the past three days and I don’t fear death anymore’,  _ just shrugs and says “If the boot fits.”

 

Dick’s eyes get even bigger for about ten seconds before he smooths out his facial expression and smiles pleasantly. “Okay, Timothy.”

 

Jason looks urgently at Tim. “Timmers! Are you okay in the head? Do you not know what you just did?”

 

Even Damian looks concerned for the wellbeing of Tim. He’s staring at Tim with such a look of utter disbelief that if Tim’s life isn't currently hanging by a fraying string, he would’ve laughed. Damian shakes his head and mutters “Just know whatever Richard does, I’m not helping you get out of it.”

 

Jason walks over to Tim and bumps his shoulder. “Looks like I won’t be the only one of us who died for long!” He whispers gleefully. 

 

While most people would assume that it was Damian that they spent the most time trying to ensure wasn’t angry, it was actually Dick who was the one that they didn’t want to deal with when he got angry. 

 

He always had a very happy and bubbly exterior, but once he did become angry, it was terrifying. Sometimes it was explosive, but other times he’d let it simmer. He’d smile at you and tell you everything is fine, and then a day, week, or even months later you’d wake up in the middle of nowhere with your hair dyed an obnoxious color, with no idea why you’re there until you get back and see Dick look up at you and say in a very sweet voice “Where were you? We were worried sick” while everyone looks nervously behind him and it hits you.

 

Yes, that was very specific and it it may or may not have had something to do with the time that Jason had accidentally pranked him by dropping a bucketful of red mud, which was very difficult to remove, on him (it had been meant for Tim) after Dick had had a very emotionally taxing week when he was 17 and Dick and absolutely lost it. He had then smiled at him and told him not to worry about it and then two months later when Bruce had gone out to one of the city-states Jason had woken up with hair dyed a nasty mixture of yellow and green (he still had no idea how Dick had managed to make the dye) and he had to walk back two hours. He had been so ashamed that Dick had managed to dye his hair and then transport him miles away without him noticing that he hadn’t complained to Bruce when he got back. 

 

Time to be the old and mature one, since Dick obviously couldn’t do that at the moment.  “Okay! We can plot revenge later, right now we gotta get to Star City.”

 

That was followed by a chorus of “Okays” and a “Damian put back those katanas or so help me” from Dick.

 

He sighs and pushes them out of the room and down the hallway. “We can come back and brood about how Bruce didn’t tell us shit later. For now, we gotta go. Damian, take your dog.”

 

~~~

Getting into Star City was easy enough, but actually getting to the meetup point without getting detected by the officers was the hard part. Semi-hard part. Most of them looked bored out of their minds and weren’t paying attention to anything.

 

He glances back to make sure Tim was still behind him. He was, thankfully. 

 

Tim was looking at a small coffee shop that was nestled between two other buildings with an intensity that Jason feels shouldn’t be aimed towards coffee. Jason grabs his hand and drags him on. They had a schedule. Tim keeps looking back. Jason tugs at him again, and Tim follows, but he turns around again.

 

Jason looks up to the sky, finally understanding that one Bible story when God had told those people to get the hell outta that one city before He destroyed it, but that one lady kept looking back and slowing them down so He turned her to salt. Made perfect sense. He wished he could turn Tim to salt and just carry him to where they were supposed to meet Dick and Damian, but he couldn’t. Which meant there was only one way to get Tim to move at a pace faster than that of a snail’s. Sighing, he digs his hands in his pocket and pulls out a couple crumpled bills and shoves them at Tim and points at the coffee shop. “You have four minutes.” He tells him.

 

Tim nods vigorously, gripping the money so hard you’d think his life depended on it and sprints towards the coffee shop.

 

“Oh, so you couldn’t move that fast when I was trying to get you to our meeting on time?” He calls out to Tim, who flips him off but keeps running. Some people who had watched their interactions laugh as they walk by. Jason looks down at the imaginary watch on his wrist.  _ Three minutes and twenty-two  _ seconds left. He taps his foot impatiently.

 

Three minutes and eighteen seconds later, Tim walks out with a cup of coffee with so much whipped cream on the top that Jason doesn’t think it should count as coffee anymore. Then again, that kid basically lives off of gummy worms and goldfish, so there was that.

 

Tim takes a long sip and looks up, a thick white mustache forming above his mouth. “Thanks, Jay.” He mutters, and Jason feels his irritation dissolve. He ruffles his hair and laughs. “Hurry up, Dick’ll kill us if we’re late.”

 

They get to the restaurant in record time, only running into a few people and Tim not spilling a drop of his coffee anywhere. All in all, it was a success. 

 

Dick and Damian quickly stand up from where they were sitting and walk over to them. 

 

Damian eyes Tim’s drink. “Where did you get that?”

 

“ ‘Ought it,” Tim tells him, mouth full.

 

“You stole it?”

 

“No, I bought it.”

 

“With what money?”

 

“Jason’s.”

 

Damian looks over at Jason and glares. “You never buy me anything.”

 

Jason waves his hand. “It was either let him buy the coffee or we’d still be half the city away.”

 

Dick grabs them and pulls them along, guiding them to the house that belonged to the people who had helped them. 

 

Gingerly knocking on the door, he puts his hand down and waits patiently. A couple of minutes go by, and just when Jason is about to suggest that Dick knock again, the door slowly creaked open.

“Artemis-”

 

Dick stops when a tall redhead opens the door and glares at them. “What do you want?” He snaps.

 

Dick smiles brightly and in his 'Cute-Boy-In-Sight' voice says. “Hi! I’m Artemis’ friend Dick and I-”

 

“Cut the crap.” The redhead cuts him off. “Artemis doesn’t have any friends named  _ Dick.”  _

 

“Maybe she just didn’t feel like mentioning it to a jerk like you.” Snaps Dick, his usually bright demeanor quickly dimming. His fists were clenched and Damian kept looking at him, as if waiting to hold Dick back if he decided to roundhouse kick the guy in the head.

 

Jason suppresses a smile. Dick had a thing for redheads, but this one just might end that for him.

 

“I’m gonna tell you one last time if you don’t leave right now-”

 

‘You were the one leaving.” A different voice floats from inside the house and another, taller redhead, who was much more attractive, in Jason’s opinion appears. “Mrs. Crock says they’re fine, and you said you were leaving twenty minutes ago.” He pokes the other redhead and he flinches and rolls his eyes. “Whatever.” He says in a grouchy voice. He then turns around and in the sweetest voice possible yells “Thank you, Mrs. Crock! I’ll be back next week to help you with your errands! I gotta go help my uncle with something so I have to go!”

“Goodbye, dear! Be safe!” Who he assumes is Mrs. Crock’s voice can be faintly heard from the house. The redhead turns back around, a scowl in place and brushes past Dick. 

 

Dick looks like he’s going to attack the redhead, and the nicer redhead sees it too, so he quickly lets them in and closes the door behind them. 

 

“Sorry about him.” He apologizes. “I’m Roy Harper, how can I help you all?”

 

“We’re here because we want to speak to Officer Queen about the abductions-t?” Jason tries to smile, but he’s pretty sure he just looks constipated. He cringes inwardly. The first cute guy he sees in like four hundred years and he has to make a fool out of himself. He’s been spending way too much time with his brothers.

 

Roy’s expression immediately morphs into something defensive. “How do you know about that?” He asks, his voice sharp and accusing.

 

Dick tries to calm him down. “He told my little brother when we were last here.”

 

Roy looks at them, trying to see if they were untrustworthy, the air tense.

 

Tim finishes his drink with a loud slurp, and everyone glares at him. He puts his hands up in surrender. “Sorry.”

 

Roy turns back to Jason (Dick was probably so jealous) and sighs. “ _ You’re _ the batfamily? I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t…” He looks at them with an unimpressed look “...this.”

 

“You know about us?”

 

“The ‘batfamily’?”

 

“I’m so confused?”

 

“Can we just get back to the abductions please?”

 

All four of their voices ring out at once, and Roy raises an eyebrow.

 

“Officer Queen and Artemis have both been abducted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u for reading & u should totally comment [if you wanna lmao]


	6. glowsticks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall i accidentally found my old ff.net account from when i was like 13 and i died inside, which somehow prompted me to write this chapter, so yay i guess lmao

Chapter Six

Dick

 

**December 19, 4044**

 

People love to complain when things don’t go their way. He was no stranger to that. Hell, he had three younger brothers, of course, he was used to people complaining at every slight inconvenience. And like most people, he usually found it irritating when people complained.

 

But this time he thinks he complaining is justified. 

 

Their dad is missing, they live off a trash dump, and now their one shot at finding Bruce had slipped through their fingers faster than you could say “Jinx!”, just to name his current top three grievances. There were definitely more, but he tried to look at the positive side of things. He was the only one who was doing that, though.

 

Tim was laying on the floor with the most stricken expression he’s ever seen him make, and Jason was laying on top of him, refusing to look up at anyone. Damian was sitting as far away from him as possible, arms crossed and a glare plastered onto his face. Roy, even though they just met them, had the same expression as Tim, except he looked a tad bit concerned about Dick’s siblings’ mental health. He doesn’t blame him. He’s concerned too.

 

Time was running out. They had to get out of here soon but none of them looked like they had the will to do so. Great. They were going to get caught and thrown in jail because everyone picked this exact moment to have an existential crisis.

 

Looking over at Damian, who was still pouting, he tries to get his attention. Damian deliberately closes his eyes. 

 

“Mature.”

 

Jason looks up at the sound of his voice. “Manure?”

 

Dick shakes his head. “No, I said,”

 

“Because that is  _ exactly  _ what this situation is. I mean I would’ve used a stronger word, but at least you’re getting into the spirit. I’m proud of you, Golden Boy.”

 

Roy’s mouth twitches upwards into a grin, and Dick wants to slam his face into a pillow. Of course, the one guy they meet likes fucking  _ Jason.  _ It was absolutely unfair. Jason probably knew and he was mentally making fun of him at this very moment.

 

He looks down and sure enough, Jason is looking at him with a cocky grin. 

 

_ “Is it the blue eyes? Do people not like blue eyes anymore?’  _ He’s so caught up in trying to figure out just what it was that would make Roy like Jason and he chalks it up to the fact that Roy seemed to like assholes. He had been friends with that other redhead, who had been an absolute asshole, and Jason was also a jerk, so it made perfect sense.

 

At least they were stuck with Roy and not the other kid.

 

“Richard.” Damian’s sharp voice jerks him out of his own thoughts and he looks up at the glaring eighteen-year-old.

 

“Yeah, Dami?”

 

“We need to leave.” He’s glaring even more intensely, and Dick’s inclined to agree with him. They’d been here too long and they were really pushing their luck.

 

“I’m with you, Dami, it’s the other two birdbrains you gotta convince.” He gestures to where Jason and Tim were still laying on the ground in a heap.

 

Damian gets up and shoves Jason off of Tim and picks up Tim, who immediately begins protesting. 

 

“Let me go you little freak!” Damian had restrained his hands so he tries to bite him. Damian swats his mouth away and forces him up. 

 

Damian had already surpassed Tim (and Dick) in height and muscle mass, much to Tim’s dismay and Damian’s delight, and Damian loved to rub it in his face whenever he could. He had tried to do the same to Dick, but Jason had already passed Dick years ago and he had gotten over the whole “Oh no my little brother is taller and buffer than me” fiasco years ago. Tim, however, did not, so Damian is taking full advantage of that.

 

Secretly Dick is glad that at least Tim was shorter than him, but he’d never say that out loud. Tim would kill him in his sleep if he did. Speaking of getting people back…

 

He turns his attention back to his siblings, who were about five seconds from an all-out brawl and he steps in between them while gesturing for Jason, who was laughing on the floor, to get up and help him.

 

Jason shakes his head. “No way man. This is the most entertainment I’ve gotten in weeks.”

 

“Jason I  _ swear  _ if you don’t get up right now, I’ll kill you.” He pushes his foot into Jason’s side, praying that Jason will get up. They had to leave, and they had to leave now.

 

“I’ve died before. And I’ll die again ‘cuz I’m not a fucking coward.”

 

Dick looks down at his brother, unimpressed. If they didn’t get their shit together in less than a minute he’s picking up Tim and leaving. If he leaves with Tim, Damian will follow because he’d think letting Dick take him was surrendering, and Jason would follow to watch the drama unfold. It was a foolproof plan. 

 

Too bad they didn’t have a minute. He can already hear sirens blaring and he can’t help but wonder how the authorities had received word that they were here. Fucking snitches…

 

The other four people in the room also hear the sirens and quickly snap to attention.

 

‘ _ Oh Now you wanna listen.’  _ He fumes silently, before signing at his brothers, giving them silent instructions. They all take off and surprisingly so does Roy.

 

Tim, Jason, and Roy take off through one of the back windows and Dick and Damian sneak out through the door in the laundry room, making sure to close the door securely behind them as they tear through the streets with only the dimming light to hide them.

 

~

 

Panting, Dick rests his hands on his knees and looks back at Damian who was doing his best to not show that he was winded. They had nearly been caught and were forced to take the officers on a wild goose chase through the markets to try to lose them. They had been good, but Bruce had taught them to be better. They had lost them, but unfortunately, they were only human. There was only so much stamina a human could have and sprinting, flipping, and dodging officers with guns for two hours wasn’t fun, even if you train for hours every day.

 

“We need to find Jay and Tim,” Dick tells Damian, straightening himself out. They couldn’t waste even more time. It was getting dark and he didn’t want a broken ankle just because his brothers were idiots and didn’t leave in time for there to still be daylight to light their path.

He liked being mobile, thank you very much. 

 

Damian seems to agree with him because he doesn’t offer a snarky reply to counter what he said. Instead, he takes off jogging in the direction of where Jay and Tim were supposed to be. 

 

Dick follows him, hoping that they didn’t get caught. He was in no mood for a rescue mission. 

 

After a good twenty minutes of running, they arrive. Thankfully, Jason and Tim are there. Roy is also there, much to Dick’s surprise.

 

“Jay! Tim!” He engulfs them into a hug before they can protest, and then turns to look at Roy. “Roy. Hi, no offense, but why are you here? I know it’s not our charming personalities.” Or maybe it was. He didn’t know, but that’s why he was asking.

 

Roy looked very calm for someone who was out of a city-state for the first time in his life. He just shrugs. “Oliver told me to go with you if he gets taken.”

 

“He knows us?” Dick asks, confused. He had only seen Officer Queen once and they hadn’t even talked.

 

“He knew your dad. He said to follow you because you’re the batfamily.”

 

“Right.” Jason drags out the syllables. “What the hell is the ‘batfamily’.”

 

Roy shrugs. “Dunno man. Probably had something to do with the fact that your dad dressed as a bat. But I could be wrong.”

 

Jason snorts. “Don’t be sarcastic with me, man.”

 

Roy grins at him and Dick looks back and forth between them. When had they become so chummy with one another?

 

Tim looks at Dick and snorts. “Don’t ask man, they were flirting the whole way here. Nothing screams ‘Romance’ like yelling pick up lines at each other while running for your lives from a bunch of police officers.”

 

Jason swats at his shoulder. “Don’t be such a bitter third wheel.”

 

Tim dodges the hit, glaring at him. “I didn’t agree to that role.”

 

“But you got it, Timbo.”

 

“Yay me.” Tim cheers sardonically, spinning his finger.

 

Before Jason has a chance to respond, Damian grabs both Tim and Dick, turning them around and seeing a figure glowing an eerie green facing them.

 

“That’s the same color as the spaceships on the satellite. It could be connected to the kidnappings.”

 

“Yeah no shit, Timmers.” Jason shoves past Tim and turns back to Roy yelling “Race you”, before turning and chasing after the figure, who had begun hastily retreating.

 

Roy, obviously not being one to turn down a challenge, lunges after Jason. 

 

Yelling obscenities, Tim also takes off after Jason, leaving Dick and Damian behind. 

 

They can see Roy throw something at Jason’s feet and Jason falls flat on his face as Roy sprints past him. They can also see Tim catch up to Jason and Jason scrambling backward to get away from him.

 

Dick sighs as he watches his siblings. "You'd think being the sole survivors of our city-state would make us at least  _ act  _ a little more intelligent." 

 

Damian stands next to him, arms crossed. "Wishful thinking does no one good, Richard."

 

Dick laughs lightly and tugs at Damian. “C’mon, let’s show them how chasing after someone should be done.”

 

Damian immediately takes off, with Dick seconds behind him. Passing Tim and Jason, who were having an impromptu wrestling match, he turns and yells “Catch the glow stick now, beat up each other later.”

 

Both of them freeze for a good five seconds before shoving each other and sprinting towards Dick. Dick, in turn, focuses on catching up to Damian and Roy. One leg in front of the other, he makes his strides as long as he can. He liked to win, and he’d do anything he needed to win. Vaulting himself into the trees, he’s able to close the distance between them far quicker than he would have been able to on foot. He lets himself drop about ten feet in front of both of them and takes off again, earning a “What the hell?” from Roy and an indigent squawk from Damian.

 

Laughing, he increases his speed and focuses on the figure in front of him. It didn’t seem to be running. In fact, it seemed to be floating, scratch that,  _ flying. _ Which meant whatever they were dealing with was enhanced, which was just what they needed. 

 

Then again, it would have to have been enhanced in some way to get the drop on Bruce. 

 

His feet begin to protest, and he remembers the suit that had been left in the bat cave. What he wouldn’t give for those boots right about now…

 

The figure veers up sharply and propels itself into the sky, vanishing from view.

 

He stops so abruptly that both Roy and Damian almost run into him. They were looking upwards as well. Jason and Tim appear ten seconds later, slowing down and stopping next to them. 

“Where’d they go?” Asks Jason, wrinkling his nose as he cranes his neck to try to see what they were looking at.

 

“That,” Dick begins, “Is a lovely question you would’ve had an answer to if you had paid more attention to what was going on around you instead of beating up your brother.”

 

“Where did they go?” Asks Tim, standing next to Dick, looking up.

 

“The glowstick can fly and it took off that way,” Dick answers, pointing at the sky.

 

Jason lets out an annoyed gasp. “You tell him but not me? He attacked me!”

 

“You started it.”

 

“I can’t believe I was cursed with the most annoying, favoritistic brother in the world.”

 

“I don’t think ‘favoritistic’’ is a word, Jason,” Tim mutters.

 

“You know what I meant.” Jason waves his hand dismissively.  

 

Whatever Tim says next is drowned out by a loud voice exclaiming “ _ Roy! I found you! I thought I’d have to wander these woods for a week before I found you.” _

 

Spinning around, Dick comes face to face with bright green eyes, freckles, and a head full of red hair.

 

‘ _ Mr. Asshole.’ _ Dick wants to scream. Not only did they lose yet another lead, but this  _ moron  _ had somehow followed them here. How had he even been able to follow them? There was no way he could have traveled so fast in such a short amount of time.

 

“Wally.” Roy rushes towards him, grabbing his wrists. “Are you okay? What happened? Why are you here?”

 

Wally stares at him with wide eyes. “Uncle Barry disappeared.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its kinda short but at least its here lmao. thanks for reading, and if you want, tell me what you think :)


	7. embers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okAY I KNOW THIS IS SUPER LATE IM SO SORRY I HAD LIKE 100 FINALS AND I HAD TO TAKE MY SAT AND I JUST DIDNT HAVE THE TIME TO DO ANYTHING BUT STUDY AND I DIDNT EVEN DO THAT AND IM SLOWLY LOSING CONTROL OF MY LIFE BUT AT LEAST I GRADUATED WITH ALL A'S AND I FINISHED THIS CHAPTER SO I GUESS THINGS COULD BE WORSE IDK WHAT IM SAYING BUT YEAH HERE'S THE CHAPTER UWU

Dick

**December 20, 4044**

 

The fire cracks and pops, small embers flying upwards towards the atmosphere. The little pieces are bright orange, contrasting with the rest of the world, which was quickly darkening. He loves dusk, it’s one of his favorite times of the day. The sun is slowly fading away, taking the normal colors with it. In their place are similar colors that are slightly washed out, reflecting off of the sunset. As it gets darker the colors slowly meld from a pinkish tint to a greenish blue tint. It was beautiful. He loves it. He can almost relax and let all of his worries slide away. Except that he can’t.

 

Because they were no closer to finding Bruce, Tim and Jason  _ refused  _ to get along, he was sounding more and more like a middle-aged mom by the day, and  _ Wally West  _ of all people had to be the nephew of one of Bruce’s friends (that he never bothered to tell them about) who also got abducted, so he was stuck with them. If he hadn’t been such an  _ asshole,  _ Dick would’ve been fine with it. He was fine with Roy. Roy was cool. Sure, he was sarcastic, but he didn’t purposely antagonize people. He could fend for himself just fine. He was willing to work with others. 

 

Wally, on the other hand, was not.

 

Said guy was currently sandwiched between Roy and Tim, and was absently staring at the fire. He looked very ethereal in the firelight; the light reflected into his eyes, bringing out the small specks of gold in his green eyes and the dancing shadows the fire cast made his red hair look it was a part of the flame. And his skin was also very nice. Not that Dick noticed, obviously. 

 

He just happened to be looking in that general direction. 

But Wally  _ was _ pretty. Too bad he was a jerk.

 

Damian eyes him from where he was leaning against a tree and scoffs lightly. 

 

When Dick looks up at him questioningly, he just rolls his eyes and pushes himself up from the ground and walks over to Tim. He leans over and whispers something in Tim’s ear and Tim jerks his head up and looks up at Damian with wide eyes, before letting out a quiet laugh.

 

Dick frowns. He was so tired of his siblings banding together against another one of the siblings,  _ especially  _ when it was him. He didn’t have the energy to deal with them. He wonders what Damian told him, it’d have to be something worthwhile if Damian told Tim, but his mind comes up blank. 

 

He groans internally. He was so  _ tired.  _

 

He still has to talk with his siblings about the cave; would they just let Roy and Wally waltz in or would they wait to see if they’re trustworthy first? They didn’t have much time, and the more they waited the smaller the chances of finding Bruce and the others got.

 

He looks up and sees Tim staring at him with a weird facial expression that Dick can’t quite place his finger on. Even though he was caught staring, Tim doesn’t look away from him.

 

Dick smiles at him, but he has a feeling that it came out more like a grimace than a smile.

 

Jason laughs loudly at something Roy said, and Dick rolls his eyes ever so slightly, smiling fondly at his younger brother. He was always so cute when he had crushes on people, he never knows how to act so he just over exaggerates everything he does. But Roy is grinning at Jason brightly and sitting just too close to Dick supposed Jason’s strategy is working.

 

Wally runs his fingers through his hair absently and Dick looks away, eyeing the cabin. What he wouldn’t give to be asleep right now, but unfortunately he doesn’t feel that comfortable leaving his siblings alone with Roy and Wally. They seemed nice enough (Roy did) but Dick didn’t exactly trust them yet.

 

Eyes trained on the fire, watching it dance in cadence with the wind, he regrets sitting directly in front of Wally. Now he couldn’t just stare in front of him. He almost wishes that they never went back to the city-state. Yeah, they wouldn’t have information on the abductions, but he wouldn’t have to worry about two strangers as well. 

 

Jason and Tim seemed to accept the two of them easily enough, and since they were friends of Artemis and Mrs. Crock Dick guesses they have a good reason to, but Dick is antsy. He keeps waiting for something bad to happen; he’s restless, despite being absolutely exhausted. He doesn’t like it.

The atmosphere is too quiet, with Damian glaring at Wally with a newfound intensity (Dick doesn’t know why), Tim absently picking at his nails and occasionally looking at Dick and then Wally, and Wally staring at the ground with his arms wrapped around himself. Jason and Roy are talking to each other in hushed tones, but it’s clear that whatever their talking about isn’t a conversation that was open to others. 

 

Finally, Tim gets up and with an over exaggerated stretch, announces that he’s going to bed and that the rest of them should too.

 

Everyone follows him with little protest. Tomorrow would be a busy day. 

 

-

 

“Dick, what’s your opinion on chocolate cake?”

 

Dick is dragged from his thoughts and looks up at Tim, who is standing over him. He frowns, trying to understand what Tim had just asked him. “What?”

 

“Chocolate cake. Thoughts?”

 

“Oh. Hate it.”

 

Tim grins brightly at him. “Cool, thanks.” He turns and walks away, leaving Dick alone once more. He goes back lacing up his shoes.

Damian comes up to him and sits down next to him, legs crossed. “Are we taking them to the cave?” He gestures to where Wally is talking animatedly to Roy.

 

Dick shrugs. “Dunno. What does Jason think?”

 

“I don’t think Todd is the most impartial person at the moment,” Damian tells him delicately, and Dick bites his lip to keep from smiling.

 

“Tim?”

 

“Drake doesn’t seem to care much either way, and if I had my way both of those buffoons wouldn’t be with us, so the decision falls to you.” 

 

Dick wants to pull out his hair, but all he does is smile at Damian. He  _ always  _ has to make the big decisions. And if the decision backfires he always gets blamed. That’s how being the oldest is. He doesn’t get to lay back and let someone else make the choices; he had to make them. He misses Bruce. Bruce would rather die than let someone else other than him make the hard decisions and while Dick didn’t always appreciate that at the time, it’s a lot harder to make decisions when you’re the sole person rather than the second opinion.

 

Damian is still looking at him expectantly, with a slight frown on his face and Dick quickly comes up with an answer.

 

“Well, if they’re out of their city state, they can’t go back in so they’re stuck with us. They haven’t done anything too sketchy. Also, Mrs. Crock seemed to trust them, and we can’t afford to wait too long. So I guess we’ll have to show them eventually. Maybe tomorrow. For now, we have training. We haven’t had the time for the past couple days so we need to stop slacking off before it comes back to screw us over. And we need to know how capable Wally and Roy are of defending themselves.”

 

Damian nods seriously. “I’ll get Drake, Todd, and Harper. You can get West. He’s brooding behind that grove of trees. Ridiculous.” With that he gets up lightly and walks away from Dick, breaking into a jog as he goes to collect the three of them.

 

Groaning, Dick gets up at walks towards the grove. Whatever Roy and Wally were talking about must not have ended well. Wally would probably be in an even worse mood, which was bad for Dick. If he gets yelled at today he just might cry. And he  _ refuses to  _ cry in front of Wally.

 

He shakes his head. He needs to get a grip. Plastering a bright smile onto his face, he waltzes over to where Wally was standing.

 

He was fuming, arms crossed and face twisted into a scowl. Dick’s smile becomes the slightest bit tighter.

 

“Hey, Wally. We’re all gonna go practice, so let’s go?” Dick finishes his sentence in a question and he cringes. He doesn’t know why he always sounds so stupid when he talks to Wally.

 

Wally’s eyes shift to look over at him, and his eyebrows raise. Dick smiles awkwardly and motions behind him. 

 

Wally keeps staring at him with an amused expression, and Dick squirms and looks down. He just wants to go practice. Not get judged by a [hot] random person who doesn’t even know him.

 

“We’re gonna be late, Wally. And I have a very strict push-ups-when-late policy that I  _ refuse  _ to be subject to.”

 

Finally, Wally takes off his yellow hoodie and throws it over his shoulder, tossing Dick a crooked grin. “Well then let’s go train,  _ babe. _ ”

 

Dick glares at him, but when he turns around to lead the way to the clearing his face his hot. He internally curses Damian for making him get Wally. If he ends up having to do push-ups, he was gonna kill someone. 

 

They walk in silence, but Wally’s presence is so overbearing that Dick has to physically restrain himself from running away from him. He refused to give Wally the satisfaction. 

 

He glances back at Wally, who was calmly walking a few feet behind him. Wally sees him looking at him and grins sultrily and Dick scoffs. No thank you.

 

He can see the rest of them stretching, and he quickened his pace to a jog. He was  _ not  _ gonna have to do push-ups because of a rule  _ he  _ instigated, thank you very much.

Wally easily keeps up with him, much to his annoyance, and they quickly make their way over to the clearing.

 

Jason looks at an imaginary wristwatch. “Damn. I was hoping you’d be late, but I guess there’s no trumping you, Golden Boy.”

 

Dick glares at him and Wally snorts lightly. “Golden Boy?”

 

“Irrelevant,”  Dick tells Wally while giving Jason a silent death threat. Jason puts his hands up in surrender. 

 

-

 

Roy was very good with self-defense and was amazing with a bow and arrow. Wally, while fast, wasn’t on par with the rest of them skill wise. He knew how to defend himself, but he just lacked the skill that the rest of them had.

 

As he went through the training, he kept throwing annoyed glares at Roy, who kept rolling his eyes at him. Wally sticks his tongue out at Roy, and he flips him over his shoulder in retaliation. Wally refuses to get up, choosing to just lay flat on his back instead. 

 

Roy kicks his side lightly. “Get up, Kid Idiot.”

 

“Speedy, I’d rather die.” Wally quips back, crossing his arms and still not getting up. 

“Bro.” Roy eyes him distastefully.

 

“Dude.”

 

Roy is about to respond when something crashes to the ground, the shock wave that followed knocking everyone to the ground from the impact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading :)  
> like,,,,, comment or whatever if you want uwu


	8. warning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i finished school so i literally have nothing to do so i have more time to write uwu
> 
> also wow i forgot damian was 18 in this fic for a hot second and i was v confused lmao
> 
> actually ima just post everyones age lmao:  
> -damian: 18  
> -tim: 19  
> -jason: 21  
> -dick: 23  
> -roy: 24  
> -wally: 23  
> -kon/conner: 21  
> -bruce: 31

Chapter Eight

Tim

**December 20, 4044**

 

Tim watches Wally and Roy's interaction with mild interest, dodging Jason's half-hearted punch as he also watches the two of them (just Roy, actually).

 

His eyes flit over to where Dick's eyes were glued to Wally and he resists the urge to roll his eyes. He looks over at Damian, who looks more than a little upset that his older brother's attention isn't on him. His arms are crossed and most of his weight is placed on one hip. 

 

Damian looks up at Tim and Tim grins and looks from Dick to Wally. Damian's level of irritation rises and Tim can feel it all the way where he's standing.

 

Damian had  _ not  _ been happy with this development, but Tim found it hilarious, honestly. It was a real life enemies-to-friends-to-lovers situation playing right before his eyes. He can't believe it.

 

He ducks another one of Jason's punches and watches as Wally sticks his tongue out at Roy and Roy flips him over. He also noticed how Dick had zeroed in on Wally's tongue. He scoffs, and turns, expecting another punch from Jason. He gets nothing but air.

 

Jason was just starting at Roy. Tim rolls his eyes.  _ Okay, just leave me hanging I guess.  _

 

Wally says something, but whatever Roy says back is drowned out by a huge crash. The impact throws him forwards and his back slams into a tree trunk and he slowly slides down. 

 

Reaching out wildly, he stands up, ignoring his aching back. He feels another crash and he's pushed down onto his knees. Growling, he grits his teeth and crawls forwards, dragging his body forward with his arms. 

 

He feels the sharp rocks and dried out grass scrape at his torso and he grimaces. That would hurt later on. Hell, it hurt now. 

 

He hears Dick's voice cry out “Dami? Tim? Jay? Are you okay?” And he opens his mouth to respond, but the whipping wind just forces dirt into his mouth. His nose curls in disgust as he spits out the dirt, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. If he gets sick because of this, he was gonna kill someone.

 

He briefly wonders what could have caused such an impact and he mentally lists all the things that were possible explanations. None of them were good. Forcing himself up, he sprints towards the center of impact and skids to a stop inches away from a crater in the earth.

 

He frowns and slides down into the crater. It was about seven feet deep and six feet wide. He probably shouldn't have just hopped into it, but the past was in the past. Crouching down, he looks at two identical imprints in the earth. Footprints. Tim squints, assessing the size. Probably a size 12 ½.  _ Heh. You know what they say about big feet,  _ he thinks, before pausing.  _ Big shoes. _

 

He feels eyes on him and he looks up to see five heads peeking down from the edge of the crater, looking at him intently.

 

Well four of them were and Dick was glaring at him. He grimaces. He did  _ not  _ need Dick to be mad at him at the moment.

 

“Tim,” Dick says in a calm voice but Tim, as well as Jason and Damian, all flinch at the sound of his voice.

 

He looks up and smiles weakly at Dick. “Hi.”

 

Dick raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. “ _ What  _ have I told you about running off in life-threatening situations?”

 

“Make sure someone knows you're alive before you run off to gather information.” He recites in a monotone voice, plastering an apologetic expression onto his face.

 

Dick's other eyebrow rises and Tim knows he doesn't buy his apology. That was another of Dick's superpowers. He always knew when someone was lying. It was very annoying. Time to change the subject. “This thing was caused by a human, probably male. Approximately 6'2, based on the imprint of the shoes here. I didn't get a good look at him, but I don't think he was aiming to kill. I think he was running away from something.”

 

He sees Wally's eyes look down nervously and his own eyes narrow. Wally knew something. He'd find out what later.

 

Dick had the “We're Not Dropping This But You're Fine For Now” expression on his face and Tim considers that a win. Jason slides down and stands next to him, taking a closer look at the footprints.

 

“He's probably enhanced,” Tim adds quietly.

 

Jason snorts. “What tipped you off? Was it the giant crash or the 7-foot crater?”

 

“Jason, you truly are a comedian.”

 

“I know.” Was the blunt response before he gestures to Roy to help him out of the pit. 

 

Tim rolls his eyes. Jason could have easily gotten out without Roy's help, but apparently, Jason would rather hold Roy's hand for five seconds. Which was honestly understandable, but since it's Jason he's gonna make as much fun of him as possible.

 

“Tt.” Damian is still looking down at him. Actually, he's the only one. The rest disappeared to who knows where, so as of now he's at Damian's mercy. 

 

“Hey, Damian-” he starts saying but he's quickly cut off.

 

“The two of them are fools.”

 

Tim blinks twice. “Dick and Jason?”

 

Damian rolls his eyes. “Apparently the  _ three  _ of you are fools. Yes, moron.”

 

“You sure you're just not pissed that Dick is suddenly paying a  _ lot  _ more attention to a certain redhead?”

 

“Please,” scoffs Damian, “I'm 18, not 8.” 

 

“Could've fooled me.”

 

“Interesting claim.”

 

“One that you don't seem to have a counterclaim to.”

 

Damian throws a pebble at him absentmindedly, waiting for Tim to struggle out of the crater. It was a lot steeper than he had originally thought. Maybe Jason  _ had  _ been up to something when he asked for Roy's help. He mentions that to Damian who just fixes Tim with the most peculiar look Tim has ever seen.

 

“Of course Todd was up to something.” He tilts his head slightly. “He was trying to hold Harper's hand. Which is absolutely degrading, but he did it in a subtle way, I suppose.” 

 

Tim bobs his head from side to side. “You're right, you're right.” 

 

“Of course I am.” 

 

They walk in silence for a bit, trying to catch up to the rest of the group but also not entirely excited to endure more thirdwheeling.

 

Maybe he and Damian could start a club called “My Older Brothers Are Absolute Disasters And We Have To Suffer In The Process”. He laughs lightly. Damian would never agree to that. 

 

Damian looks down at him questioningly, but Tim just waves his hand in dismissal. “Don't worry about it, man.”

 

“That implies I actually care about whatever you were thinking about.”

 

“Well, since you were a part of my thoughts, and you are your favorite person, you probably do.”

 

Damian's lip curls downwards and he jabs Tim in his side lightly. Tim laughs and pushes him back, thinking about how much as changed yet so many things remained the same.

 

-

 

When they get back to camp, Wally is still glaring at Roy, but Roy won’t budge on whatever he had told Wally. Tim really wants to know what Roy had told Wally. He’d have to listen in on their next conversation, he decides. 

 

Just as Wally’s about to deliver a loud complaint- Tim can see it on his face- they all hear a small chuckle behind them and they whip around to see Selina standing on a boulder above them, looking down at them in amusement. 

 

“Selina?” Dick asks in disbelief, while the rest of them stare up at her with squinted eyes and screwed up faces, trying to block out the sun that was shining directly behind her. Leave it to Dick to manage to look still look attractive while staring at the fucking sun.

 

She drops down from the boulder and leans casually against it, smiling slightly. “Hey.”

 

“What do you want?” Grumbles Jason from where he was sitting, obviously not too concerned about getting into a fight at the moment.

 

“Just making sure you four are still alive, that blast was pretty severe.” She tells them conversationally, picking at her nails absentmindedly. 

 

“And you care because?” Dick leaves the question hanging, eyeing her suspiciously.

 

“Bruce asked me too.” She says with a shrug, looking around at the rest of them and focusing on Wally and Roy. She smiles slightly and turns towards them. “My, my. Looks like the team is coming together.”

 

Wally sends her a flirty smile and Roy jabs his elbow into his side and hisses “behave.”

 

Dick suddenly looks like he wants Selina to be anywhere but here.

 

Tim almost laughs at him but then frowns, focusing on what Selina had said. Why did everyone but  _ them  _ know about whatever team they were supposedly a part of? Even Selina knew? He can’t help but feel a bit offended. Why didn’t Bruce tell them? “What team?” He asks hoping that she’d just tell them flat out, but Selina looks over at him and shakes her head. 

 

“That’s for you to figure out, Tim.”

 

Tim deflates a little. So much for hoping…

 

She turns to go but pauses. “Oh, before I forget,” She takes out a disk and tosses it at Tim, who grabs it from the air, “Bruce had asked me to give this to you a few years ago.” Before melting into the shadows, leaving them alone with their thoughts.

 

Tim looks at the disk and runs his fingers over it, examining it. It was about four inches thick and four inches long, covered in small scratches and nicks on its black surface. He flips it over and spots a small red button that had PLAY written in small black print. Hesitantly, he presses it and momentarily flinches, half expecting it to blow up in his grasp.

 

Instead, the device lets out a strangled whirl and a small light begins to flicker before Bruce’s figure, from the torso up, flickers before them before solidifying. 

 

The rest of them crowd around the hologram, staring intently at Bruce, waiting to hear him speak.

 

Bruce’s recording laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck and averting his eyes from whatever device he had used to record this. He then takes a deep breath before looking straight ahead and begins speaking.

 

**“Hey guys,”** He pauses again and gathers his thoughts, nibbling at his lip.  **“Before I start, don’t get mad at me, I’m talking to you, Dick and Damian.”** He exhales a small laugh before continuing.  **“I have no idea what’s going to happen, actually that’s a lie. I know what’s gonna happen.”**

 

Dick snorts and mutters something about how Bruce had to be aware of everything and Tim’s mouth twitches upwards.

 

**“I just don’t know** **_when_ ** **it’s gonna happen-”** He freezes and then shakes his head slightly.  **“Wait. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me explain from the beginning. But you have to promise to listen to this entire recording before freaking out.”** He laughs a bit, and the hologram flickers for a second, and Tim’s heart freezes, but it stabilizes again.  **“You’ve probably already found the cave and the suits by now. I hope. If you haven’t, then I guess I should… nevermind. Back to the topic.  I’ve been, helping certain individuals regulate crime in their city-states for a number of years, and I did it for Gotham before it collapsed- Dick don’t you** **_dare_ ** **get pouty, I might not be there at the moment, but I know how you get when I keep stuff from you, even if it’s for your own safety.”**

 

Tim looks up and sure enough, Dick’s mouth was threatening to morph into a frown, but he notices people looking and he bites his lip to keep from frowning.

 

After a moment of glitching, Bruce continues.  **“I’m not going into detail about me, but I need to tell you about the others. There’s the Green Arrow, The Flash, and Superman. He’s very annoying; he’s so optimistic. Practically a ray of sunshine, which is ironic ‘cuz-”** He stops himself from continuing his comment, and Jason leans forwards, wiggling his eyebrows. 

 

“Bruce seems to really like this Superman guy.”

 

Damian rolls his eyes. “Shut up so we can hear, moron.”

 

“You’re just pissed ‘cuz I picked up on the homoerotic subtext before you did.”

 

“Todd, I  _ will  _ carve out your tongue.”

 

“ _ Sh.” _ Snaps Tim, eyes glued to his dad.

 

Bruce is looking at something they can’t see, before turning back to them.  **“Anyways, as I was saying, they’re basically a group of vigilantes. They call themselves the Justice League, but I personally think that’s stupid- Jason, don’t you** **_dare_ ** **make fun of me for being in a “Super Secret Superhero Night Club”.”** He makes quotation marks with his fingers while he says that and Jason laughs. 

 

“Too late.”

 

“ _ Todd.” _

 

**“But anyways, if-when- we get taken, it’ll fall to you to get us out of this mess. They have proteges, Red Arrow, Artemis, Kid Flash, Supergirl, and Superboy. Based on my calculations, Artemis and Supergirl will probably get abducted, which leaves the four of you with the other three- Damian I expect you to play nice with the others. I know you don’t like strangers, but trust me when I tell you they are your allies.”**

 

Damian scoffs. “Does he still think I’m 10?”

 

“To be fair you might have been when he made this.”

 

Damian jabs his side.

 

“Hey!”

 

_ “Guys.”  _ Dick pleads between clenched teeth.

 

“Sorry.”

 

**“Anyways, trust them, but still be cautious. I haven’t trained you for so many years just so you die because of a stupid mistake.**

 

**Speaking of stupid mistakes, Tim make sure you sleep. Remember what I told you about feeling annoyed because you can’t sleep versus being grateful you can’t sleep. It works, even if you think, and I quote, ‘it’s the stupidest thing in the world’.”**

 

Tim purses his lips. Yes, it  _ did  _ work. Not that he was gonna admit it. It was kinda like when your mom tells you to bring a jacket but you don’t and then you’re stuck freezing to death. You’ll turn into a popsicle but you won’t tell your mom you’re cold, even though she already knows.

 

**“...I may have lied when I said I knew** **_exactly_ ** **what would happen, but I know it’ll be an extraterrestrial invasion. Why they’d want to invade this dump of a planet is beyond me, but so are the aliens so, heh. That was funny.”**

 

Tim groans and drags his hand down his face. “No Bruce, that  _ wasn’t  _ funny.”

 

“I dunno,” Dick puts in, “I thought it was funny.”

 

“Now who’s talking?”

 

“Shut up, Jaybird.”

 

**“Okay! I know at least Dick thought it was funny, so I’ll continue without apologizing for the pun.”**

 

“Do you see how predictable you are, Dickie?”

 

“Sorry.”

 

**“I don’t have a lot of time left on the drive, and I kinda wasted time so I’ll condense it real quick. Alien invasion. Trust those three sidekicks-”**

 

“ _ Partners.”  _ Roy corrects with a bit more intensity than needed. Wally seems to agree, but he doesn’t take his eyes off Bruce (or through Bruce at Dick, who just happened to be standing in front of Wally, Tim thinks in amusement.)

 

**“Uhhh go to the cave, it’s furnished with things tailored to** **_all_ ** **of your abilities. Including the sidekicks. Partners. Whatever they’re calling themselves now. Uhh be careful, use your brains and your training. Don’t question my decision to give this to Selina, but I know you are anyways, so I don’t know why I bothered saying that.”**

 

The crooked grin fades and he becomes very serious.  **“I love you all so much, don’t forget that-”**

 

The hologram collapses and the disk beeps, signaling that the recording was finished.

 

The six of them stand in a circle, stunned. 

 

Damian lets a quiet laugh. “Well Richard, it appears the decision about the cave has been made for you.”

 

Dick makes a face and rolls his eyes before walking off, gesturing for the rest of them to follow him.

 

-

 

They walk through the forest for a good twenty minutes and Tim takes the time to reflect on what he had just learned. Bruce had known what was going to happen, so he had spent as long as possible training them to be able to save everyone. Apparently, there had been a way to know who was going to get abducted, so the abductions weren’t random. Bruce, ever the drama queen, had decided that he’d rather have his disappearance shrouded in mystery rather than just telling them what would happen. He shakes his head in mild amusement.  Typical. 

 

Eyeing the tall barren trees, he lets the wind carry off his thoughts to a far off place, and he doesn’t even notice when the rest of the group stops and he runs straight into Jason, who looks down at him with mild annoyance.

 

Tim grins sheepishly at him before going up and unlocking the cave door and they all enter, shutting the door behind them.

 

“It’s so dark in here,” Wally complains as he edges forwards slowly, trying to ensure that he doesn’t fall.

 

“Well, what did you expect, Kid Mouth? LED lights?” Roy jabs at him and Tim grins before switching on the lights.

 

Roy blinks twice before rolling his eyes at Wally. “Not a word.”

 

Wally shrugs and begins to move when Roy grabs his arm and looks at him with a warning expression.

 

“Dude!” Wally complains, but Roy’s gaze just hardens.

 

Wally wilts. “Fine.” He snaps, brushing off Roy and following Dick down the corridor that leads to the suits.

 

The rest of them trail after silently, and they stop in front of the glass cases, looking up in awe. Wally moves to his suit (a little  _ too _ fast, might Tim add. Based on Roy’s glare, he thought so too.)

 

“This one’s mine!” He announces, pointing to the bright yellow suit.

 

Dick makes a face at the color choice but doesn’t comment, choosing instead to open up the case with his suit in it.

 

“Suit up.”

 

“That’s a very cliche line, Dick.”

 

“ _ You’re  _ a cliche line, Jason.”

 

-

 

Tim picks at his utility belt, waiting for Dick to finally finish changing. He’s sure that he’s taking his sweet time to annoy the rest of them, but Tim really wishes he’d hurry.

 

Finally, he sashays out of the cave to where the rest of them were waiting and grins brightly. “Ready?”

 

Wally snorts. “Are  _ you?” _

“The first shall be last and the last shall be first.”

 

“I don’t think that applies here.”

 

“It does.” Insists Dick, before moving to stand next to Tim.

 

“Any chance any of us knows where to find Superboy?”

 

Wally rubs the back of his neck absentmindedly. “We already met him.”

 

The rest of them look up at him. “What?”

 

Wally looks at them in confusion. “He caused the crater. You guys didn’t see him?”

 

Dick frowns slightly. “No, he moved too fast for us to see?” His statement sounds a lot like a question and Roy glares at Wally again.

 

Tim grins mentally. He had been right. Wally had superspeed, and Roy didn’t want him to reveal it yet. Personally, he thinks that explains a  _ lot  _ about Wally, but he’d keep that to himself. It was none of his business, after all. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading :)  
> comment pls (if you want) !!


	9. rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thIS IS LATE I KNOW IM SORRY FIRST I HAD TO GO CAMPING FOR A WEEK AND THEN I GOT SICK AND THEN I STARTED TO WRITE AN EVIL!BATFAM AU WHICH YOU SHOULD READ (shameless promotion) AND SO YEAH SORRY AHHHHH ALso i have to get my wisdom teeth out this thursday and im gonna die lol

Damian

**December 21, 4044**

Thunder cracks loudly, jolting Damian awake. He had always been the lightest sleeper, and the slightest noise could wake him, which was both a blessing and a curse. Rolling over, he sits up and rubs his eyes with his hands, before dragging them down his face and placing them on his knees.

 

Leaning forward, he strains his eyes to try to see through the small window to the left of him. Thick raindrops pattered down so fast it looked like a sheet of water instead of individual droplets. 

 

He frowns, it would not be easy to track the Superboy with all of the rain washing away his tracks. Rolling his right ankle, trying to get rid of the static that was racing up and down his leg, he watches the door with anticipation.

 

Richard was supposed to be returning from patrol soon and while Damian knows he’s more than capable of taking care of himself, the weather would surely slow him down.

 

Eyes trained on the door, he hears a noise and whips his head around, trying to spot the source of the noise. He can barely make out two shocks of red huddled together and he frowns and tilts his head, trying to hear what they're saying.

 

Eavesdropping was usually Drake's (annoying) forte, but Damian was willing to listen in if it meant ensuring his brother's safety. Maintaining his position, he zeros in on their lips, reading them to understand what they're saying.

 

"You need to stop slipping up, Wal. They're getting suspicious." Harper accuses the other, eyes hard as he jabs his finger into West's chest. 

 

"I don't get what the big deal is." The latter argues quietly, waving his hands around for emphasis. "So what if they know that I-"

 

Harper clams his hand over West's mouth, muffling whatever West had been about to say beyond comprehension. Damian frowns irritably. How Drake could stand and listen into someone else's conversation for pure entertainment was beyond him; this was agonizing.

 

"Dude! What the hell!" West snaps as he rips his friend's hand off of his mouth, glaring daggers at him. 

 

"You  _ know  _ what Ollie and Barry said. Be careful about who knows about your abilities until you're 100 percent sure you can trust them. Just because you like one of the people here doesn't mean that you can just  _ tell  _ them. Liking someone doesn't guarantee they're trustworthy. And it sure as hell doesn't guarantee they'll like you back."

 

"I  _ don't  _ like anyone." West protests, shoving Harper off of him, before flopping over and turning away from him, signaling that he was done talking with him.

 

Damian rolls his eyes. That was useless. Behind him, he feels someone shift and he tenses, before rolling his eyes and glancing back at Drake, who was watching them with a gleeful expression.

 

'I love this.' He mouths at Damian. 'So much drama.'

 

Damian rolls his eyes, suppressing a snort, before shifting ever so slightly to look at Drake.

 

_ They're hiding something.  _ He signs at him, frowning slightly to emphasize his point.

 

Drake raises an eyebrow, unimpressed.  _ Yeah no shit, man.  _

 

Damian's face flattens out, losing all emotions.  _ If you know what it is, tell me. _

 

Drake grins brightly at him.  _ What if I don't feel like it? _

 

_ Then I'll tie you to a post and let a bear eat you while you scream for help. _

 

His brother gave him a slightly concerned expression, before signing out his reply.  _ You're just mad because I figured it out before you. _

 

Damian glares at him and motions for him to continue. Drake thankfully obliges.

 

_ He's a speedster. Wally, not Roy. _

 

Damian frowns.  _ That...makes sense. _

 

_ I know!  _ Was Drake's cheery reply. 

 

The door swings open before Damian had a chance to reply and a soaking wet Richard stomps in, looking absolutely pissed. He flips on a lantern that sits next to the door, filling the entire room with a bright, lime green light.

 

Everyone groans loudly, protesting at the sudden light but Richard just throws their suits at them.

 

"I don't wanna hear about it! I just spent the last four hours trekking in the freezing cold rain so don't even  _ start  _ to complain to me about how early or cold it is or I'll cut off a body part of my choosing and shove it down your throat. Suit up, we got a super kid to find!" He snaps, waving around the lantern so that the light hits everyone directly in the eyes. 

 

Damian squeezes his eyes shut, trying to get rid of the dark spots dancing in front of his eyes. That was going to bother him until they went away.

 

-

 

The trails were slippery and were definitely not safe to walk on currently but that didn't stop Richard from forcing each and everyone out of the small cabin and dragging them down the path in the direction that they had last seen the Superboy heading. 

 

Damian doesn't complain, he knows time is of the essence and they couldn't afford to wait, but the others did.

 

"What the hell's got your panties in a twist, Dickface?" Todd hollers at Richard from the back of the line, arms crossed across his chest. Richard doesn't reply, choosing instead to just raise his arm up and flip him off before continuing on, not slowing down.

 

"Dick? Don't you think that the rain, lack of light, and slippery hills are a bit unsafe?" Tim's voice is quiet, but Damian can hear the hesitation in his voice and he can't help but roll his eyes. Coward.

 

Richard doesn't respond, so Damian takes it as his cue to speak up.

 

"Because Drake. We can't waste any more time. Superboy is moving fast and the rain's washing away his trail; we can't find him if we don't have anything to track him with. It's simple." 

 

"Yeah, and it'll get even simpler when one of us falls down and breaks a leg." Mutters Drake under his breath as he kicks a dead branch laying in his path. He almost slips from the force of his kick but Harper reaches out from behind him and steadies him.

 

Drake smiles sheepishly up at him and hurries forwards until he's next to Damian. Damian is proud to say he doesn't roll his eyes, but he definitely considered it.

 

"There's not enough space for both of us to be walking next to each other." He snaps.

 

Drake rolls his eyes. " _ I  _ fit fine. You're the one who's too fat to fit."

 

Damian squawks indigently at Drake, before leaning down to look him in the eyes. "You're just jealous because you're 5'7 and weigh 140 pounds soaking wet." He pokes at Drake's bangs, which are plastered to his forehead and his brother swats his hand away, glaring.

 

"Still doesn't change the fact that you're fat."

 

"I am 100 percent pure muscle, thank you very much." Snaps Damian before turning on his heel and increasing his speed.

 

Richard's eyeing the two of them with an amused expression before stopping and addressing Harper and West. 

 

"Did you guys know Superboy, since you were all a part of that...Justice League." Richard says the name slowly as if it was the last thing he wanted to say.

 

West frowns and shakes his head just as Harper tells him "We didn't, sorry. He was generally new, even Superman didn't know about him until recently." 

 

Richard stares at them, unimpressed before slapping a smile onto his face. " _ Great!  _ This is  _ just  _ what we needed! I love our lives!" He throws up his hands and keeps walking.

 

West leans over to Drake and mutters "What's his problem?"

 

Drake shrugs. "He's been up since one in the morning in the freaking rain keeping watch and we're really not that close to finding Superboy. And he's still probably pissed that Bruce kept him in the dark for so long. I dunno man. Ask him." 

 

Damian eyes West, who's  _ still  _ looking at Richard as he walks mechanically forwards and he frowns. ' _ Absolutely not.'   _ And grabs Drake and Todd's arms shoves his way in front of West, dragging his siblings with him. Harper, of course, follows Todd and West ends up in the back of the line. Perfect.

 

Drake doesn't even bother holding in his laughter and Todd's looking at him like he just grew a second head, but Damian doesn't care. All that matters is that he saved his brother from being stared at in a very unprofessional manner. He glances back at West and glares at him.

 

"Dude, can you hold this for a second? It keeps messing with my side pocket and I wanna see what's up with the pocket." Drake hands him the disk from before and Damian slips it into his own pocket absentmindedly.

 

"-You know what else is hard?" Jason's voice floats over towards Damian and he resists the urge to drag his fingernails down his face. They have been flirting the  _ entire time  _ and Damian has had  _ enough  _ of other people's attractions for one day. Shouldering his way forwards, he gets in front of Richard and continues on at an even faster pace so he can escape the endless sounds of people flirting 

 

When he looks back, he's a long way ahead of the rest of the group. He huffs, watching his breath climb up higher and higher into the air until it becomes obscured from view. Everyone in their group was acting  _ ridiculous  _ except for maybe Drake but the fact that  _ Drake  _ was the most tolerable in their group didn't signify anything good.

 

He takes the disk out of his pocket and begins tossing it up and down, feeling the rain drip down his face, briefly thinking about Titus, who he had left home because Richard told him to. "It'll be too much for him, Dami. He's still a baby and we don't know what'll happen if we do end up finding Superboy." Which admittedly made sense, but Damian felt bad about leaving him alone. He'd spend extra time with him later, he decides.

 

He tosses the disk up again, before catching it once more as it falls back down to earth. His finger accidentally brushes a lever and his father's holographic form shimmer to life in front of him.

 

He's too busy gaping at it that he doesn't notice that there was no audio and that Drake had caught up to him and was staring at Father with his mouth ajar. 

 

"How did you-"

 

"I don't know, I pressed some button." He snaps, trying to find an 'Unmute' mutton.

 

"Give me that." Drake snatches it from his hands and begins tinkering with it, but the audio refuses to play and the hologram dies down. Drake frowns down at the disk. "Great. I love that for us."

 

Damian rolls his eyes. "I've had enough about 'love' to last me a lifetime."

 

Drake's eyes twinkle with mirth as he asks "Still mad about Dick and Wally?"

 

"I don't see what Richard sees in that moron." He says testily, crossing his arms. "He could do so much better."

 

Drake hums quietly. "It  _ is  _ funny though."

 

_ "What?" _

 

"How they're blatantly eating each other out with their eyes but they somehow both think the other one hates them. Pure comedic genius. You'd think this was orchestrated from above."

 

Damian purses his lips. "That's an interesting way to view it."

 

"Gotta roll with the punches my dude." 

 

Damian stares at his fists and then back at Drake. "Oh really?"

 

" _ Not  _ what I meant in the slightest, Demon Spawn. Don't try it." Drake warns, backing up ever so slightly.

 

Damian grins and looks at Drake, but something to his left catches his eye. The branch in the tree was snapped. He squints his eyes, focusing on it. "What do you think caused that?" He points above Drake, who looks up with wide eyes.

 

"Superboy. C'mon!" He takes off running through the forest and Damian sprints after him, crashing through the bushes and getting smacked by branches as he forces his way forwards. 

 

He keeps running and running until he notices Drake had frozen and he skids to a stop next to him, looking at the man in front of them.

 

Superboy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading !! comment pls [if you want to :)] !!

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading :)


End file.
